January 24, 2007
By Jill Casey/The Daily Item

A city development official said he is prepared to use all means necessary to get the Athanas family to take steps to reopen or sell their prime piece of downtown real estate.

James Cowdell, executive director of the Economic Development and Industrial Corp., said he has had the property at 37-45 Central Ave. appraised and is looking at taking it by eminent domain if the Athanas family does not make their intentions for the former site of Anthony’s Hawthorne known in the coming weeks. The property was appraised at $850,000, he said, and currently generates $12,206 in property taxes. In addition to the circa-1923 building, the Athanas family also owns the neighboring 32,000-sq. foot parking lot.

The restaurant closed its doors five years ago and the owners agreed to give up its liquor license last year.

“My job is to move the business community forward and I see this as a major hurdle to that,” Cowdell said.

Following a recent conversation with a representative for the family, Cowdell said he did not get the sense that they were prepared to cooperate and was informed that the Athanases are not in a financial situation that requires them to sell the property. He has since proposed the option of eminent domain to the EDIC board of directors.

“If they want to develop it, we are here to help in any way we can,” Cowdell said. “But we are not going to allow that property to sit vacantly indefinitely. If the family is going to come to a decision that they are not going to develop it, EDIC will do everything in its power to develop that land.”
Cowdell said his office is aware of investors who are interested in the property.

“I think it would hard to find a business owner or resident that is not in favor of seeing Anthony’s Hawthorne developed,” he said.

Wig Zamore, an advisor to the Athanas family, said they have no plans to sell the property in the near future and believe the abundance of rooming houses, vacant buildings and the lack of a consistent development plan for the downtown provide the Athanases with little incentive to move forward at the present time. With the taxes paid and the building up to code, Zamore said the city has little standing to take the property by eminent domain.

“(Eminent domain) is often used as a threat to jiggle action on the bully pulpit. I think it’s a very poor tactic and generally only used when people don’t know what to do,” Zamore said. “The Athanases would certainly be interested in talking with the city about real opportunities.”

Anthony’s Hawthorne was first opened in 1937 and marked the beginning of the late Anthony Athanas’ local seafood restaurant empire. He went on to open four more restaurants, including Hawthorne by the Sea and General Glover House in Swampscott. Anthony’s Pier 4 on Boston’s waterfront and Hawthorne by the Sea remain open. The Glover House has been closed for many years.

Zamore said Anthony’s Hawthorne closed for economic reasons.

“The restaurant lost its economic vitality (and) there were not a lot of people coming to Lynn anymore to eat at white tablecloth restaurants,” Zamore said.

While Zamore opined that the economic viability of Lynn’s downtown remains in question, he acknowledged that the rehabilitation of old buildings into condos and lofts has done a lot for the area. However, Zamore said there is a lot of work to be done and the Athanas family is willing to sit down with city officials to discuss the future of the property.

“They are certainly not going to be swayed by end runs, like the press,” Zamore said. “You can’t rely on individual business owners to create the public realm.”

A member of the Lynn Chamber of Commerce said the group is interested in seeing the property developed.

“Obviously we think it’s a gem of a property. It’s just a shame that it’s been sitting there for so long,” said John Olson of Olson Financial Group.

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