Thomas MacMillan Photo
Pub owner Peter Gremse may soon be serving wood-fire pizza at a key missing piece of Westville Village’s revival —if he can prove he doesn’t need extra parking spots.
Gremse, who owns Delaney’s Tap Room and Restaurant in the heart of Westville, came to the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night to pitch a new restaurant at 838 Whalley (pictured). That’s the commercial space at the corner of West Rock Avenue in the mixed-use ArLoW complex facing Tour Avenue.
The spot, at the gateway to Westville Village, has been vacant for at least five years. It has remained a stubbornly uncompleted central piece of an otherwise successful arts, housing and retail development.
To make the new restaurant happen, Gremse is seeking two special exceptions to city zoning law: Permission to establish a 130-seat restaurant with a full liquor license, and to allow only nine parking spots, where 34 are required. Commissioners heard his appeal and referred it to another panel for parking review before they take a final vote.
In his pitch Tuesday, Gremse described a family-oriented, 3,600 square-foot “open kitchen concept” establishment whose primary fare would be pizza served in wood-fire style around a kind of open hearth. He tentatively named it “Parkside” because the main entrance will face Edgewood Park.
Allan Appel Photo
Delaney’s owner Peter Gremse and architect Michael Cusano.
Gremse (at left in photo), father of a 3‑year-old, said that restaurant would appeal both to young families during the early dinner hours and then to romantic couples who might snuggle up with their pies in one of the proposed 81 booths or at one of the 36 tables until closing time at 11:30 p.m.
Gremse added that the food served (about half will be pizza) will also be “farm-to-table” style with as much as possible purchased from the popular farmers’ market at Edgewood Park.
Gremse called Parkside “a totally different concept from what I own.” It would feature “organic local sourcing while trying to maintain affordable prices.”
The proposal attracted a lovefest of support from a half dozen Westvillians at the zoning hearing. They applauded Gremse’s good citizenship and called Delaney’s and the proposed Parkside good anchors for Westville’s main drag. Delaney’s sits just up the street from ArLoW, at 882 Whalley.
“The benefit of the proposed restaurant could be tremendous,” said Westville Renaissance Village Association (WRVA) Executive Director Chris Heitmann in a prepared statement. He hailed the prospect of bringing a stable tenant, with 25 new jobs, to a space left empty for at least five years. And he said Parkside would enhance nocturnal safety with more non-bar-destination pedestrian traffic during evening hours.
ArLoW developer and property owner Thea Buxbaum cited a 2010 WRVA survey in which “one of the main things residents are asking for [is] new dining experiences.” She reported the proposal also has the support of area Aldermen Angela Russell and Adam Marchand.
Oh, Parking!
BZA Commissioner Ben Trachten asked how the neighborhood would handle the parking burden from a 130-seat new restaurant.
“Parking will not be wonderful,” Gremse replied.
Supporters like Heitmann praised Gremse’s handling of parking at Delaney’s. Over 11 years there has not been a single parking complaint registered with the city, he said. Heitmann said that while some perceive parking in Westville to be in short supply, “within three blocks [of the proposed Parkside] there are 300 free curbside spaces, plus 47 in the lot [at Blake and Whalley].” Heitmann said discussions are also “in motion” with the city to add eight spots on the east side of West Rock Avenue and to eliminate the tow zone across from the park on the north side of Whalley.
There are nine spaces dedicated to 838 Whalley in the 28-space ArLoW lot. City zoning law requires a restaurant of that size to have 33. As with all parking issues, the BZA sent Gremse’s request for special relief from that requirement to the City Plan Commission. It will be heard there on March 21 and then return to the BZA for a final hearing on April 10.
Gremse said if all goes well, he hopes to be selling romantic pies at Parkside by August.