A Chelsea developer has purchased the Boston parcel containing the historic Jacob Wirth restaurant, near the site of a pair of recent controversial redevelopment proposals.
Anthony Simboli, who purchased the 31-39 Stuart St. space, said he has no plans to alter the property. The restaurant will continue to operate, and Simboli is leasing the space back to owner Kevin Fitzgerald.
"I was drawn to the historic character of the building," Simboli said of the 14,000-square-foot space. He said he was impressed with the old-time feel of the restaurant, which opened at its current location in 1878.
Simboli declined to provide a sale price. The building last sold in December 2009 for $7.5 million, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. A lien for $22,007.98 was placed on the property in October for failure to pay property taxes, according to the Suffolk Registry of Deeds.
According to the registry, Simboli secured a loan for a mortgage on the property worth $1.6 million from Citizens Bank. Jacob Wirth is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and protected from alteration under the federal program. While some minor changes to such a property can be made under special circumstances, the envelope of the building must remain intact, Simboli added.
The commercial real estate developer purchased his family-owned company, ACS Development, which has approximately 325,000 square feet over about nine buildings within walking distance of each other, worth about $60 million.
In recent years, the Stuart Street site has been overshadowed by proposals for a 28- and 24-story tower in an adjacent parcel used as a surface parking lot.
No plans have been filed recently with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for anything new or alterations to the site, BRA spokesperson Jessica Shumaker told Banker & Tradesman.
In 2006, Boston-based Weston Assoc. signaled its intention to build a 28-story building in the parking lot. The 340,000-square-foot development would have contained 112 hotel rooms and 181 luxury condominiums, as well as 219 underground parking spaces.
But the plan drew strong criticism from Chinatown and Bay Village residents for heights that exceeded zoning limitations. There were also fears the project would not create the foot traffic necessary to displace drug dealing and prostitution that occurs nearby. The developer withdrew plans citing poor market conditions.
In 2008, Eastat Realty Capital proposed a 24-story, mixed-use tower on the parking lot with offices, retail uses and a 174-space garage. That proposal is still under review by the BRA, but the agency has not heard anything from the developer in the last six months.
"It’s listed as still in the pipeline," Shumaker said. "But they certainly haven’t gotten back to us."
