Plans afloat for Anthony’s
Family inks deal for Pier 4
By Greg Turner
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The table is set at Anthony’s Pier 4 for developers to cook up the latest property transformation on the South Boston waterfront.
New England Development has finalized a deal with the Athanas family to take over the storied culinary destination and — after 13 years of negotiations and permitting — launch a three-building project across the 1,000-foot pier.
“It’s an imminent closing. We hope to be under construction with the utilities virtually immediately,” said Bill Cronin, a vice president at the Newton firm led by mall king Stephen Karp.
In the project’s estimated $150 million first phase, development partner Hanover Co. of Houston will erect a 21-story luxury apartment tower on Seaport Boulevard next to the Atlantic Beer Garden. A hotel and condo complex will follow.
The 1,000-seat Anthony’s Pier 4 will continue dishing out lunch and dinner to patrons — until eventually moving into the base of the hotel.
“At end of construction, Anthony’s Pier 4 will be in a much smaller location. It was a mega-restaurant, but that was then, this is now,” said George Regan, spokesman for the Athanas family.
The iconic restaurant, operated by late founder Anthony Athanas’ four sons, opened in 1963 and grossed as much as $28 million a year in its heyday in the 1970s.
“Anthony built a landmark in Boston that became world-recognized. Obviously it’s emotional, but times change,” Regan told the Herald. “The change is good and it’s exciting.”
Like other Hub restaurants, Pier 4’s business declined during the recession, contributing to missed city tax payments. The redevelopment is expected to generate $8 million a year in property taxes and $4 million annually in hotel taxes.
The eatery’s spot at the far end of the pier, beyond a parking lot, will become a park — an open-space trade-off for the building density the developers requested for the rest of the 9.5-acre site.
“It’s the most expensive piece of real estate that won’t be developed in Massachusetts history,” Cronin said during a real estate industry event held yesterday at the restaurant.
The apartment tower, set to open in the fall of 2014, will contain 369 units ranging from penthouses to small “innovation units” for young professionals. The building will have underground parking, club amenities, a restaurant and a second-floor outdoor pool deck.
“We think on a hot summer day,” said Hanover’s David Hall, “that it’s going to be a spectacular space in the middle of the burgeoning Seaport District with restaurants and bars all around it.”
-— gturner@bostonherald.com
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