The kitchen will be decommissioned and closed until the next phase of the renovation. A number of other restaurant owners were able to take some of the equipment, Besayon said.
ADAMS, Mass. – A longtime Park Street business is moving to another Park Street landmark.
David Bissaillon of Smith Bros.-McAndrew Insurance is moving the 125-year-old company into the former Red Carpet restaurant.
“It made a lot of sense to me,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve always been very active in things happening in the city of Adams for over 125 years. This now gives us an opportunity to be investors in a building instead of paying rent.”
Bissilone sees this step as a positive endorsement of the city and a clear investment in its future.
“We have to talk about the future of Park Street and Adams. There’s a lot going on right now and quite frankly that had a big role in my decision to invest in the purchase, because I really feel like Adams is going in the right direction,” he said, citing the new businesses that have opened, the rail trail and the Greylock Glen project. “I’ve been here my whole life and I feel like now has never been a better time to be a part of what Adams and I are doing.”
Smith Bros.-McAndrew was temporarily located at 45 Park after having to leave its last offices due to problems in that building. It has been in a number of locations up and down Park Street over the years.
He could have done well off Main Street, but Park Street is where the company’s roots are, Bissilone said.
“We’ve always been renters, which is great. But the opportunity presented itself and we’re not really planning to go anywhere else,” he said. “So building Park Street made sense.”
SBM currently has five employees and may add another employee once the transition is complete. The location is well known, and there is a parking lot in the back and a neighbor’s police station, Besayon noted.
Keith Dedominici purchased the property in 2021 from Haddad & Bartlett. Bisayon, as 69 Park Street LLC, bought the building from him on Dec. 21 for $235,000.
Since then, he’s slowly been emptying out the restaurant — the booths are mostly gone and the kitchen has been stripped of supplies by other diners.
Work to convert the building into offices will be carried out in phases, with the front dining area, bathrooms and rear entrance being completed first. The kitchen will be closed for now with plans in the future to convert it into a conference room, offices and breakout area. The top floor apartment is occupied and there are no plans to change that.
“I think (contractors) will do their best for a month and we’ll have a good idea where we stand after that… but it’s optimistic that in the next couple of months, we’d like to be here.” Bisselon said.
He said he spoke with Haddad and Bartlett and that they were “thrilled that this is our agency and that it’s great. That we will be the next owners of this space.”
He said he heard all the jokes now about getting a sandwich and insurance.
“Unfortunately, all we’ll be cooking are good insurance deals,” he laughed. “We’re not going to be the red carpet. But like I said, we’re going to continue to give our customers the red carpet treatment.”
Tags: job changes, insurance, park street,