Allan Appel Photo
At a commercial graveyard of recently failed restaurants at 47 Whalley Ave., entrepreneur Steven Browning hopes to succeed with a sports bar. Maybe the third time will be the charm?
He made his case at last week’s regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals.
At the site of the recently failed Sweet Jasmine Rice Thai cuisine restaurant (pictured), Browning said he wants to open a sports bar that caters to people from Yale, Southern Connecticut State University, and those staying in the Courtyard Marriott Hotel across the avenue at Dwight Street.
On the plus side, the building is already fitted for restaurant use, noted the BZA staff report.
However the total absence of parking iss a potential obstacle to success, suggested commissioner Walter Esdaile.
“I’m going to validate parking,” replied Browning.
The site has no backyard or side lots where parking could be accommodated and it is two stores above Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits that has a large and beckoning parking lot.
Speaking on behalf of the proposed restaurant, by Whalley and Dwight near the Broadway/Goffe/Dixwell traffic crescent, was Whalley Avenue Special Services District Executive Director Sheila Masterson (pictured with Browning).
“47 Whalley is critical to the economic mix of the neighborhood. We’ve had two other restaurants that failed because they didn’t have a marketing plan. We’ve been beating up on him [Browning] about it, and he’s still standing,” she said.
The zoners approved the proposed restaurant with several conditions.
These included a revised and more scaled floor plan showing a capacity that would not exceed 71 people. Also that the restaurant be open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.