Shell Of Bank May Be Bones For Eatery

The empty former First Niagara Bank branch in Westville’s commercial heart may soon find new life as an eatery run by one of the city’s more successful restaurateurs — and revive some of the dining scene lost in the fire at the old Delaney’s across the street.

New Haven businessman and restaurateur Rob Bolduc is currently buttoning up a deal to buy the vacant branch building at the corner of Central Avenue and Fountain Street, from First Niagara, which closed branches like this one in 2014 before selling the company to Key Bank.

Bolduc’s plan is to transform the building into a 3,400 square-foot restaurant.

“It’s not a done deal yet,” he said. He said he’s hoping that with some zoning relief on parking and a liquor permit, he can bring a restaurant that will play well with the charm of Westville Village and take a little advantage of the location’s views of West Rock.

Bolduc’s name might be a familiar one. He is the president of BoldWood Interiors, which manufactures bars and cabinetry right here in New Haven for restaurants. He also is a partner (along with Daniel Kay and Marc Knight) in two successful restaurants in the city, Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill downtown (there’s also a location in Fairfield), and Shell & Bones Oyster Bar and Grill, which is in the City Point neighborhood.

Born and raised in New Haven, Bolduc said he’s always liked the neighborhood village appeal of Westville. He lives in Fair Haven; he said he’s enjoyed Westville neighborhood signature events like the annual Artwalk.

“It’s a vibrant, cool neighborhood,” he said . ​“I like that the building has views of West Rock. The demographics are good and there is a lot of density as far as residential housing in the village.”

He said it also doesn’t hurt that the village gets a lot of suburban traffic that he’s hoping to capture as people head home to places like Woodbridge each day.

“We thought it would be fun, and we wanted to own the building so when this one came up, we thought it was a great fit for what we want to do,” he said.

Two top-secret concepts for the restaurant are being considered. He said for now he’s remaining mum on what those are and which one will be the eventual winner.

He did give two details of what the new restaurant will feature: an outdoor patio to take advantage of the view; and Chef Arturo Franco Camacho’s menu design. Camacho is the executive chef at Shell & Bones, which like Geronimo, has an outdoor patio.

Bolduc said that the new restaurant, should it come to fruition, will help fill a ​“metaphoric and geographic hole” left in the village after a 2014 fire closed the former Delaney’s. The lot that Delaney’s occupied has been up for sale for two years with a few nibbles of interest, but no takers as of yet.

“We want to keep that success going [of the other restaurants], and we’re going to provide a place the neighborhood could come in and enjoy, to gather again since Delaney’s has been gone,” he said. ​“It will be a place they can go with their families and just gather in the neighborhood for a bite to eat and drink.”

Lows & High

Lizzy Donius, acting director of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, said the former First Niagara branch is among a handful of major vacant properties that the neighborhood and the city have been pushing to fill. The others include the former Delaney’s site as well as a building at the corner of Whalley Avenue and Fitch Street, and the long vacant 500 Blake St. Recently, the village saw Stone Hearth restaurant shutter its doors at Whalley and West Rock.

Despite the vacancies, there has been new activity in the heart of the village where The Range at Lotta Studios has made its home for over a year, where fashion designer Neville Wisdom has built his second, larger studio in the city, and where new businesses like Strange Ways, Alisa’s House of Salsa and Chip in a Bottle have moved in.

Though the neighborhood Subway decided to move out of the village, a new sandwich shop, Vicky’s Deli, is busily setting up shop. And the first phase of getting long fought for and much needed traffic calming through the heart of the village is underway.

Donius called Bolduc’s Westville plans exciting, and a possible spur to filling the other empty spots.

“We need a couple of big wins,” she said.

Bolduc said that he will unveil more detailed plans in a meeting with Westville neighbors as soon as one of his partners returns to town next month, the deal for buying the property is more firmly in hand, and site plans develop. He declined during the interview to say how much he and his partners offered for the property.

He will need a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals that would allow a restaurant liquor permit and allow six onsite parking spaces where 61 are required in a BA district. The BZA and City Plan Commission were scheduled to take up his application this past week, but he decided to wait to present his pitch until he can tweak the plan include not just the building at 34 Fountain St. but also the existing parking lot, which is technically at 614 Central Ave. and located in a RM‑2 residential district.

If all goes according to plan, he said a mid-to-late-summer opening of the new venture could be in the offing.

“My partners and I are excited to be part of the neighborhood,” he said. ​“Right now the plans are very preliminary and we’d like to clean them up a bit before we share them.”