City Works to Bring Caribbean Food and More to Downtown Attleboro

It's no secret that downtown Attleboro has benefited from improvements of new sidewalks, fancy light posts, a façade program and new landscape. In fact, that streetscape was one factor that drew the owners of Scorpio’s Italian Eatery & Pizzeria, Joe Scorpio and his sister Elizabetta Costantini, to Attleboro.

Since Scorpio’s opened its doors in September, the once sleepy downtown has seen some life. And Mayor Kevin Dumas expects that to continue with two more restaurants that are expected to occupy space in downtown Attleboro.

One Caribbean restaurant (with jerk chicken on the menu) is slated to move into the Dana Building, Dumas said. And a second restaurant may be in the works for the downtown area.

“We are working with Sal Pina (Attleboro’s community development director) on getting another restaurant on the other side of Scorpio’s,” Dumas said.

He said there are talks with Cobalt Construction, the property owners of the Ashley Building, to bring another restaurant to the newly renovated space next door to Scorpio's.

“You have to be able to let willing property owners put their best foot forward," he said.

Renovation and attracting new businesses to downtown is one of many small steps, the mayor said, to improve an area that is busy during the day, but a ghost town at night.

The new streetscape, new façade and the effort to bring more jobs into the downtown area are all part of the city’s redevelopment and economic development projects made possible with some help from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants. The city provides CDBG grants to sub-grantees that support the goals of community development.

“We are doing it incrementally in small steps,” Dumas said. “We are also not going to take foolish steps to put the city is massive debt. It’s tangible and people can see it and I’m proud of that.”