The liquor license that was meant to attract a restaurateur to the residential development at Boston’s 45 Province St. has been stripped by the city’s licensing board after the permit went unused for two years.

The luxury condominium building’s developer, the Abbey Group, paid $225,000 for the license in 2008, but failed to use it and violated the Boston Licensing Board’s (BLB) "use it or lose it" policy.

The developer has also failed to open a restaurant at the site, where just 29 out of a total 137 condominiums had sold as of March 2. The Abbey Group can appeal the board’s decision to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and then can file a suit in Suffolk Superior Court, so the license will not immediately be offered to another user.

"This is part of an on-going process and we are continuing to work with the city and state to resolve the matter," David Epstein, president and chief operating officer of The Abbey Group, said in a statement. "The Abbey Group remains committed to our long-term goals and vision for 45 Province, as well as improving the Downtown Boston neighborhood." 

"They really need a license at that space if they’re going to attract a restaurant," said Charles Perkins, president of Boston Restaurant Group, which specializes in selling and leasing restaurant space. "You’re probably talking $400 [per square-foot] to build out a restaurant today, and the location is a little out of the way."

Perkins said he was surprised to hear the Abbey Group lost the license. In most cases, a developer’s attorney will repeatedly meet with the licensing board and explain that a space is being actively marketed and has a tenant in sight – in this case, a restaurateur – and would be granted additional time. If the space where a liquor license is meant to be used cannot be filled, the developer would usually identify someone else to purchase the license. According to the board’s legal counsel, the Abbey Group did not follow this course.

Instead, representatives of the developer attended four previous status hearings where they received extensions. Finally, last Tuesday, the developer’s representatives attended a BLB hearing with no transferee identified, and the board voted to cancel the license.

"They were just looking for more time to hold the license," said Jean Lorizio, legal counsel to the BLB.