Jimmy's Harborside Closes for $20M Redevelopment Project

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BOSTON-Jimmy’s Harborside Restaurant, a waterfront landmark for more than 80 years, will be demolished and rebuilt over the next three years. The aging restaurant will be replaced with two new buildings.

Restaurant owner Jimmy Doulos tells GlobeSt.com that the eatery, first opened by his grandfather in 1924, was closed in preparation for the project, which calls for the construction of a four-story, 40,000-sf building and a two-story 15,000-sf building on the Northern Avenue parcel. Although still in its initial planning phase, the project on Boston’s Fish Pier is expected to include two restaurants along with office and retail space.

“It’s been bittersweet,” Doulos says. “A lot of people are disappointed we’re closed but this is an amazing opportunity to build in the same location.”

Ed Nardi, president of Cresset Development, which will develop the property in a joint venture with Jimmy’s Harborside for an estimated cost of $20 million, tells GlobeSt.com that he expects the restaurant to remain closed for at least two years during construction. Doulos says his new restaurant will be somewhat smaller than its original 30,000 sf.

Nardi says the project, part of the city’s waterfront redevelopment effort, still must receive permitting approvals from the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Massachusetts Port Authority before construction can begin. That process is expected to take about a year.

Massport authorized construction of the two-building restaurant complex late last week and is expected to sign a long-term lease with Harborside LLC later this spring, according to a Massport spokeswoman.