First Look: Hotels in Belmont Center? Well, It Could In Latest Overlay District Draft

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Photo: The “new” Belmont Center? (all images: Able.City)

A hotel in the heart of Belmont Center? Or one across Concord Avenue from the new library? How about a series of three-and-a-half story residential and retail buildings hugging Leonard Street and Claflin Street where the municipal parking lot currently is located?

Presented to the Planning Board’s Tuesday, March 11 meeting was a series of architectural drawings picturing the latest aspirational version of the future of Belmont’s business and retail center if the annual Town Meeting passes this latest draft incarnation of the Belmont Center Overlay District

As one observer said after the meeting, “This isn’t want will be, rather, what it could be.”

The night’s highlight was a first draft “look-see” from consulting firm Able.City just how a proposed overlay district would transform Belmont Center from its current tired 60s traffic-based facade into a mix of Tudor- and Colonial-styled multi-story housing and storefronts that comes right out of the New Urbanism playbook.

Able.City’s leading philosophy and design ethic in rebuilding the center is that “the street is very important. The public realm is very important,” said Belmont Planner Chris Ryan. “There is a mix of uses, integrated of natural features, the consideration of neighborhoods, possible introduction of parks … definitely providing additional density, shopping opportunities and preserving building that need preserving.”

The district encompasses Leonard Street, Claflin Street, the Parking lot, the land opposite Town Hall, and the stretch of Concord Avenue beyond the commuter rail tunnel adjacent to the US Postal Service office and across from the new Public Library now under construction.

The Overlay District establishes five form-based districts (FB1 to FB5) based on location, with their own characteristics, such as how structures look, height restrictions, and frontage standards. An example: Known as the General Zone, FB2 encompasses the west side of Leonard Street and Concord Avenue adjacent to the commuter rail tracks. Its role is to transition the adjacent residential neighborhoods with the main commercial business area with buildings 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 stories tall with a maximum height of 48 feet.

Ryan presented the meeting with a series of renderings of the new center, showing Leonard Street with a stretch of tall mixed-use buildings, noting that the proposed heights on the street’s west side are not as high as previously cited. 

Claflin Street looking towards Channing Road

The slides showed a complete transformation of the Claflin Parking Lot – known as the home of the Belmont Farmers Market – into “a second main street” consisting of a new retail/residential hub with a “structured parking deck” that would “wrap around the development and hidden in the back.” It would also include a four-story residential building near the intersection of Channing Road.

The development of the Claflin lot would likely require Claflin and Leonard to become one-way streets, creating a “round-about” for the center 

Ryan did clarify that the consultants and the board “haven’t decided at this point whether we may want to go ahead and include the Claflin lot [for a vote at Town Meeting].”

Some questions still need to be answered, such as how much additional square footage each new structure will add to the center and the need for new parking to accommodate the new supply of business and housing. 

“Obviously, both the Claflin lot and the Locatelli Properties lot (the parking adjacent to the back of the retail/office buildings located on Leonard Street) are very important in terms of decisions that the board needs to make … of what we go forward [to present to Town Meeting] in May,” said Ryan.

Yates expressed his unease with the current overlay design on parking. “I did not walk away with a really clearunderstanding for how we were going to make parking work [in a redesigned] Center,” said Yates. Ryan said a solution will come by first making a “complete inventory” of parking there today while seeking opportunities, such as “expansion of street parking … beyond the district” and parking opportunity districts. Also known as parking benefit districts, they are specified areas in the center where the parking revenues raised are reinvested back into the district for a wide range of transportation-related improvements.

Thayer Donham warned her fellow board members that “without having an integral parking plan that goes along with the [overlay district], it will not pass Town Meeting. 

The five districts each have a consultant-created “use table” – outlining what uses are permitted within each zoning district – and also grants uses not currently allowed in the town’s bylaws. One such use, it turns out, is hotels.

Hotels and other lodging units have been a priority of many, including economic development advocates and those promoting commercial real estate, such as Belmont Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne, who has called hotels “low-hanging fruit,” as each pays multiple fees and taxes on parking, meals, and real property. It is no secret the town is attempting to work with the Tosi family, who own five acres along Hittinger and Brighton streets, to locate a hotel on the property. 

Despite several half-hearted attempts in the past, town officials never got around to including a hotel bylaw in the zoning book. And because the town lacks rules on lodging structures, the Able.City’s “use table” permits hotels “by right” in the FB4 and 5 zoning areas, including the Claflin Parking lot and Concord Avenue.

When Yates asked if the use table would override the overall existing zoning, Ryan replied, “Then it would, probably be, yes.” Ryan added that many towns surrounding Belmont have special sections in their zoning books for particular uses like hotels which “flesh out some additional requirements” such as room count and parking numbers.

Belmont actually has a proposed hotel bylaw in the works. Yates revealed that he, Ryan, and the Planning Board’s Associate member Andy Osburn had initiated work that would allow hotels and Bed & Breakfasts “by-right” in all business districts, defining types of lodging (i.e., what is a boutique hotel) while proposing to “relax parking requirements” for hotels. Yates said the group had to pause their efforts due to a deluge of competing demands that “overwhelmed us,” such as work to pass the MBTA Communities Act and the Accessory Units bylaw.

The board will want restrictions on any “by-right” hotels in the overlay district. “Hotels, in general, have been a very popular point of discussion. But there’s been a lot of conservation about, should they be boutique? Should we have 200 rooms” said the board’s Carol Berberian. “I think that as long as there are some standards in place, it’ll just give us an idea of what to expect.” 

At the latest public meeting in February, many in attendance and online were supportive of that first overlay draft with the hope that greater development will increase the percentage of commercial real estate coming to the town’s coffers to ease the property taxes on residential homeowners, and the need of an operational override.

Yet stubborn opposition to the current overlay plan continues from residents who live adjacent to the center, those concerned about traffic impact from new housing and businesses, and notably from the chair of the Belmont Center Association and long-time Center business owner, Deran Muckjian, who at past meeting question the financial viability of developing at the proposed scale. 

“It’s kind of sad that the town is moving forward with [the overlay district] without listening to the local businesses in town who have so much at stake,” said Muckjian.

An updated draft, with comments from the Planning Board and its staff included, will be presented in a public meeting tentatively scheduled for April 10, a month before the Town Meeting vote.

Hanukkah’s Light Shines A Third Time In Belmont Center

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Photo: Rabbi Avi Bukiet of the Center For Jewish Life of Arlington-Belmont

The third time was more than a charm for Belmont’s Jewish holiday tradition.

During this year’s third annual Belmont Grand Menorah Light Celebration, Rabbi Avi Bukiet of the Center For Jewish Life of Arlington-Belmont told the two dozen attendees at the second-night lightening at the outdoor menorah—a candelabra with holders for eight candles—in the Belmont Center delta that something that happens three times in a row has a special meaning in Judaism.

“This is our third year in a row in Belmont, and the Talmud says that when you do something three times, it has a chazakah, which means ‘a strength.’ Now it’s a permanent pattern,” said Bukiet, who praised the town’s administration for being the first town in the Center’s service area, as opposed to a synagogue or other religious organization, to support the placement of an outdoor menorah.

“The Center for Jewish Life has built over the last few years a wonderful relationship with the town of Belmont, and we’re really thankful for those who helped make it happen. When I came for approval in the town, it didn’t even want to bring it up to the Select Board. It was already a done deal,” said Bukiet.

“The town has been welcoming, and everyone has been wonderful in making this happen and wanting this to happen. Thank you for including the Jewish community as part of the Belmont celebration. It’s important that we’re here and have a presence here.”

With Christmas and the start of Hanukkah falling on the 25th, which happened to be one of the coldest days of the winter, the number of participants was half that of the previous year. But those who attended – including visitors from Oregan and other out-of-towners – would have their fill of latkas from Whole Foods (editor’s note: tasty) and get to guess the number of dreidels in a dreidel container.

Bukiet said the strength projected by lighting a candle every evening is especially poient this year as approximately 100 of “our brothers and sisters across the world are being held hostage and are not able to celebrate with their families and with their communities for the second Hanukkah in a row.

“Let’s pray and hope and let’s wish that before the end of Hanukkah, the hostages are brought home to Israel, and those that are fighting for their freedom should continue to have strength from strength to strength to make this happen and to protect the Jewish people in Israel and all around the world as we continue to do our part.”

Bonnie Friedman, who came dressed in colorful tights and a coat with florescent sneakers to celebrate the holiday, said that despite the cold, holding an outdoor observation has significance in raising awareness of the Jewish community in Belmont.

“What’s beautiful about this is everyone has a menorah at home. It’s important to feel and be Jewish at home, but it’s also important to show our Judaism on the street. It’s important to show our pride, show the strength that we have, and be proud to be who we are,” said the Belmont resident.

Select Board member Roy Epstein hopes the menorah sheds light on current events.

“Hannauka is an event that happened in the Middle East a long time ago. A lot of people got slaughtered, and it was ended by a miracle. And I think here in 2025, I would like people to stop getting slaughtered, but I don’t think we can count on a miracle,” said Epstein.

I think what we have to hope for is for people of goodwill and courage to step forward and try to find an end to this madness and have a decent life for everybody, for Israel and everybody else in the Middle East. It’s one planet, and we’re all supposed to live here,” said Epstein.

Al Fresco Dining Returning To Belmont Center But Only Three Restaurants Want Spaces

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Photo: Il Casale is one of three restaurants seeking sidewalk dining this summer in Belmont Center

A hubbub is happening in Boston’s North End where restaurant owners and their employees are upset that certain historic neighborhoods like theirs face more restrictions and limits on outdoor summertime dining than other less frequented parts of the city.

There are no such complaints from eateries in Belmont as the Select Board approved earlier in March al fresco dining on sidewalks and in designated parking spaces walled off by jersey barriers along Leonard Street.

But unlike Boston where there’s a voluminous number of applications for sidewalk and curbside space, Belmont Center has seen a dramatic drop in spaces being set aside for dining from 15 last year to just six this coming summer, according to Glen Clancy, town engineer.

The biggest impact on space requests is the recent closure of the popular Trinktisch Beer Hall and from eateries that don’t feel the need to have an outdoor option, said Clancy.

Two of the eateries, sister establishments il Casale and the Wellington, have reduced their ask to just two parking slots each as “they want to have a more impactful look to their spaces,” said Deran Muckjian, owner of Toy Shop of Belmont, and president of the Belmont Center Business Association.

The other eatery seeking added space is Stone Hearth Pizza. There will be one dedicated area in Cushing Square for Savinos Grill on Common Street and the town will support a request from Watertown’s Conley’s Pub since the roadway up to the restaurant’s curb is located in Belmont.

Muckjian said early in the year he sought feedback from merchants and restaurants “and everyone is comfortable” with the smaller plan for outdoor dining.

Unlike past years, the establishments will be footing the bill installing, then removing the jersey barriers.

In addition, the season has been reduced from the Mothers’ Day weekend in May to Sept. 15.

Al fresco dining was established in 2020 as an attempt by the town to assist restaurants which found their indoor dining areas shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first year, Leonard Street became a single lane, one-way road – from Alexander Ave. to Channing Road – with much of the curbside set aside for chairs and tables.

But from the start, many of the Center’s brick and mortar retail businesses were less than pleased losing about two dozen parking spaces in front of their establishments. In the subsequent years, Leonard would return to a two-way road and the number of dining spaces reduced at the urging of storefront retailers.

Menorah Lighting Set For 6 PM Saturday, Dec. 9 In Belmont Center

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Photo: Menorah lighting on Saturday, Dec. 9 in Belmont Center

Come together for a meaningful menorah-lighting ceremony with music, songs, and community at the Center for Jewish Life Arlington-Belmont’s third annual Belmont Public Menorah Lighting on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The lighting occurs at the delta green space in front of the M&T Bank branch in Belmont Center.

Sufganiyot, latkes and other Chanukah treats will be served.

Santa’s Visiting Belmont To ‘Turn On The Town’ This Thursday, Nov. 30

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Photo: Jolly ‘Ol Saint Nick with a dog

Santa Claus continues each year to find his way back to Belmont. And this year, ol’ St. Nick will visit Belmont Center on Thursday, Nov. 30, for the annual “Turn on the Town” festivities from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The night’s highlight will be when Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on Leonard Street at 6:15 p.m., riding on top of one of Belmont Fire Department’s engines. After stepping off the equipment, Santa will flip the switch on the Center’s holiday lights on a tree donated by the Belmont Lions Club, which will be adjacent to Bellmont Cafe.

Santa will then move down Leonard Street to the M&T Bank branch – the former Belmont Savings Bank – where he and the Mrs. will greet their most significant constituency: children. Parents will get the opportunity to take photos with the jolly old man. Santa will give good boys and girls candy canes and a promise to bring that special present on Dec. 24. Bad children must attend the town’s Budget Summit II at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

“Punishment enough,” said Santa.

Leonard Street will be closed, and family and friends are invited to gather and enjoy the holiday lights, meet with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, listen to Belmont High School’s amazing Madrigal Singers, and enjoy some fried treats. Local business members of the Belmont Center Business Association organize the night’s events.

‘Our Last Chapter’: Trinktisch, Craft Beer Cellars Closing New Year’s Eve As Owners Failed To Find Buyers

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Photo: The location of Trinktisch and Craft Beer Cellars in Belmont Center

It was a sad day when the news was revealed in August that Suzanne Schalow and Kate Baker, the co-founders of Craft Beer Cellar and Trinktisch European Food Hall on Leonard Street in Belmont Center, were putting their local businesses up for sale.

And while it appeared the two landmark retail operations would-likely continue with new owners, the reality was announced in a social media post on Nov. 1 that both the store and restaurant will be closing for good on the last day of the year, Dec. 31.

The $1,080,000 price tag on the flagship store in the Craft Beer Cellar franchise universe with its thousands of loyal customers and the restaurant which has become a lively family destination known for its German entries and beer combinations, was too much for “a local individual, family, or group, to pick up where we will leave off,” said Schalow in August.

The headwinds preventing the sales were several: the long lasting negative impacts of the global pandemic the beer industry, retail, and restaurants, alike, on-going staffing challenges, and finally “irreconcilable differences with our landlord, which has ultimately dissolved any parties interest in purchasing our businesses, as we had hoped.”

“Time has run its course and now it’s time for us to live our last chapter,” said the couple on social media.

Thirteen years since opening a concept of selling craft beef from a narrow storefront on Leonard Street that developed into a nation wide franchise, Schalow and Baker discovered that more than a decade “without a real vacation or traveling,” running a franchise from a basement office, then adding a restaurant – a dream for the partners – took a significant toll.

“We are simply tired and ready to change gears, and feel certain that now is the time to make this change in our lives,” they said.

Schalow and Baker wanted their patrons, guests and fellow Belmont residents to know “it wasn’t you” that made their decision.

“[Y]ou’ve been wonderful and if not for YOU we would have never made it 13 lovely years!” they said. “We are so humbled to have been members of the Belmont, Belmont Business, and Belmont Center Communities for these years. We are ever grateful for your continued support, positivity, love, and friendship.”

“While not the outcome we had envisioned, we intend to enjoy our final two months of operation and will hope that we see you as often as possible, as we wrap up both businesses,” they said.

“Rest assured that we will keep working hard to provide the best in beer, wine, food, and hospitality, until the very end.”

As a coda, Schalow and Baker said they not leaving Belmont, nor will they be leaving the beer industry as they will continue to build the Craft Beer Cellar franchise brand while keeping busy visiting places, judging beers, write books, and make many more contributions to the beer universe.

“We have given our heart and soul to our businesses and now it’s time to take a step back, stay grateful for our experiences, and forge a new trail ahead,” they said.

Touch-A-Truck Returns For A Second Year On Oct. 7 In Belmont Center

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Photo: Living the dream at last year’s Touch-a-Truck event in Belmont.

It’s back: The second annual Belmont Touch-a-Truck event is on Saturday, Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bulldozers, snow plows, garbage trucks, police vehicles and motorcycles, fire and EMT apparatus, and a whole assortment of large vehicles will be open for children – and their parents – to climb into and explore at the Claflin Street Parking Lot in Belmont Center.

“Last year it exceeded all our expectations, the honking notwithstanding,” said Stephen Rosales, formerly of the Belmont Select Board and a member of the board of Belmont Youth Activities, who is sponsoring the event along with the town’s D.A.R.E. chapter.

“But honking [the vehicles’ horn] is what all the kids and some of the adults wanted to do, quite frankly,” Rosales told the Select Board at a recent meeting.

According to Rosales, talks are also underway with the Belmont Lion Club to have a mobile eye examination clinic that can test kids’ vision in 30 seconds to detect early signs of problems.

Attendees can expect refreshments – it was hot dogs and water last year – and there was a request from the Select Board.

“Stephen, can Touch-a-Truck include touching a food truck? That would be good too,” said Board Chair Roy Epstein.

From Banking To Beaujolais: New Owner Of Belmont Center Beer And Wine Store Set To Open

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Photo: Roxana Lemus, the owner of Belmont Wine and Beer in the former Cuvee Fine Wines on Leonard Street in Belmont Center

Ever since she came to the United States as a 10-year-old from El Salvador, Roxana Lemus was looking to take the

“It has always been a dream of mine to become a business owner,” Lemus told the Belmontonian.

And sometime this summer, Lemus will realize her goal when she opens the doors to Belmont Wine and Beer, in the location of the former Cuvee Fine Wines at 32 Leonard St. in Belmont Center.

The new Belmont Wine and Beer store on Leonard Street

“I am very happy about the opportunity that I see now,” said Lemus, after the Select Board approved her request for an off-premises beer and wine liquor license in March. The license was the existing one for the location, being surrendered by Gandbhir Swapnil who purchased the former Vintages: Adventures in Wine store in August 2016.

For the past several years, Lemus was moving up the retail banking ladder at Rockland Trust, as branch manager of its East Boston office on Meridian Street. It was when she recently purchased a house in Marlborough that Lemus said to herself, “it’s about time that I get to own my own business that was closer to my home.” Her search took her to Belmont where she discovered the long-established business was up for sale.

“I was first very, very tentative but then I knew this is what I’m looking for. So it was about time for me to step up and become a business owner,”, said Lemus.

While her primary goal is to continue the success of the business, Lemus also wants to get to know and support the Belmont populace.

“I want everyone to know me more than just a business owner. I want people to know me as Roxanna, that she’s part of the community.”

Belmont Center Will Be Home To A Menorah For The Holiday Season

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Photo: It’s menorah time in Belmont Center

Belmont Center will be home to a Hanukkah menorah as the Belmont Select Board unanimously approved on Dec. 5 having a public display of the chanukkiyah over the eight nights of the holiday.

The first lighting will occur on Sunday, Dec. 18 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the delta in from of M&T Bank. It is open to the Belmont community with dreidels, donuts and menorahs for the public.

The menorah will stay on the delta with an additional candle – it is an electrical candelabrum – is lit until the final candle lights up on Sunday, Dec. 25.

Luna Bukiet, co-founder at Center for Jewish Life of Arlington-Belmont, told the board there was a really nice showing last year – even though it was a ”very last minute event” – “so much so that community members and Belmont members have been asking us already if we were planning to do this again.”

“It’s cool. I support that,” said Board Chair Mark Paolillo.

Comella’s Leaving Belmont Center Location For New Home At Former Loading Dock Site

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Photo: The current site at 43 Leonard St.

One of Belmont Center’s largest and most popular eateries will be leaving its Leonard Street storefront this fall for its new home on the Cambridge/Belmont line.

At its Monday, July 11 meeting, the Belmont Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a special permit for a fast food license to the owners of Comella’s Restaurant to allow them to move the eatery known for its Italian cuisine and pizza to the former site of the Loading Dock at 11 Brighton St.

Attorney Stephen B Rosales, who represented the Comella family, told the board that after 10 successful years leasing the 43 Leonard St. location, the had to opportunity to purchase the property at 11 Brighton St. … which will ”cement and control their future here in town.” Rosales said the owners ”have applied to basically operate the same way and in the same manner as they have” at their current site.

”Same menu, same pizza. At $6.99, it’s a great deal,” said Rosales.

The loss of Comella’s will be a blow to Belmont Center which has seen the number of empty storefronts grow since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Located at the former home of The Loading Dock restaurant, the new site will have 60 seats with 48 at tables and 12 at the bar. Under Belmont zoning requirements, the site will have 30 parking spaces, with 12 out in front, 10 permitted spaces across Brighton at the F. A. Williams’ property and nine off street.

The Comellas’ will soon seek a transfer of the beer and wine license it has at the Leonard Street store. A minimum build out will be required and the new site will be open in the fall. As part of the permit, the board restricted outdoor seating at the site even though the restaurant’s patio is private property, as opposed to town-owned sidewalk on Leonard Street.

Emma Thurston of Baker Street said the proposed new site – which is a block from her house – has been empty for a really long time, and since Comella’s is a household favorite, ”we’d be very happy to add them to the community over here” as it will become “a strong [business] anchor” along with Hillside Gardens in the area.