A Coburnville staple lunch spot is closing at the end of 2023. If you want to get in on some of their porchetta sub deliciousness, you better do it before their last day on December 30, 2023.
Owners Nancy and Scott cite retirement for the reason to close, however we’ve been predicting their closure for a year now as the building they are leasing space in is slated to be turned into a multi-use apartment building.
A brief history…
In early December 2022, on the agenda for the Historical Commission, under demolition delay discussion, we noticed an address near and dear to our hearts, 818 Waverley St. It had been proposed that the building which houses TJ’s Neighborhood Market was to be demolished.
When developers want to demolish any buildings over 75 years old, it needs to be reviewed by the historical commission to determine if the site has any historic value to the city, and if so, the commission can delay the demo for 6 months. In this time, it allows the developer and city to come up with alternative plans, preserving history.
A demolition delay is not intended to punish the developer, but rather it provides an opportunity for the Historical Commission to work with the owner to determine if the building can be saved. A recent success story involves the 1812 House on Salem End Road, which Framingham State University opted to sensitively rehabilitate.
Long story short, we publicized our finding, and nobody, including TJ’s which operated in the building knew anything about the plan to tear down their business, until we told them.
We made a post, dozens of shares, and hundreds of angry posts later, on December 14th, at the meeting to discuss the demolition of the building, the developer withdrew their request. In their letter, the developers citied their desire to withdraw their request, until a time after they were able to share their plans with the neighborhood, via the Coburnville Tripoli Neighborhood Asscociation (CTNA).
A few days after the withdrawal of the request, the owner of TJ’s posted to Facebook.
What the owners failed to mention is that, they had NO idea in advance of the plan to demolish their building. A few days after the TJ’s post, we received info via FOIA on the true plans for the site, and what the developer may have said to the owner of TJ’s, does not really correspond to their architectural renderings and plans, as of a month prior.
This is all about money. This is all about bang for the buck. The building is zoned multi-use, and in order to make the most money off apartment, and capitalize on the new multi-use zoning rules allowing higher residential density and height, the new building must have some retail space. If more space was earmarked for retail, that would yield less parking, and that in turn would limit the allowable number of apartment units allowed.
In this email by the Environmental Health Manager Michael Mendez, we learn that there are several concerns he has about the plan for TJ’s or any food service business going into this tiny space… confirming that this space was not designed for the needs of a restaurant.
It is FU’s determination that the landlord wanted to get permission to demolish without any fanfare and they were going to displace TJ’s and a handful of apartment tenants upstairs and rebuild a structure that meets the definition of multi-use but not designed for a food service business, so for the owners of TJ’s being told that they were wanted back when the building was rebuilt, doesn’t correspond to the architectural plans proposed. It is also our opinion that not only did the landlord, the Harness Group lie to TJ’s, they also did to the neighborhood association in order to get greater Coburnville’s support for their $$$-grab plan.
The City’s Environmental Health Manager weighs in and agrees that the proposed building was not designed with food service in mind.
That all said, we will miss having TJ’s in our community. Best of luck to Nancy and Scott in their retirement… but we called this eventuality months and months ago.
One way or another they were closing. It is our guess that the building they in right now will be razed as soon as TJ’s is out.