Historic Hawthorne By The Sea Dining Farewell Tour To Get Extension in Swampscott?

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The historic Hawthorne by the Sea farewell tour may not be coming to an end this fall after all.

A year after the town agreed to purchase the oceanfront property with the intent to have the restaurant operate one more summer before it was turned over to municipal use with an open space preference, Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told Patch on Thursday that there have been "some conversations happening about extending the lease" either with the Athanas family or another restaurant entity.

"We're planning to redevelop the parcel but we don't want to have an empty building," Fitzgerald told Patch. "Ultimately, that will be a real problem. We are still trying to support the short-term use of that building."

A vote of a special town meeting authorized $7 million to buy the 1.47-acre parcel last June with the sale completed in December. Since then, the town held one community "ideas exchange" in January on the future use of both the restaurant building and the property as a whole, while it also hosted a St. Patrick's Day fundraiser there to benefit the town's Fourth of July fireworks.

A second "Revisioning Hawthorne" forum is set for Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Swampscott High School cafeteria.

But while hopes are still high for the potential future of the property, the clock is ticking on its current use with the town scheduled to take over full responsibility for the building and property as of this October.

The reality that whatever is decided for that future use, which will have to be approved by a vote at an annual or special town meeting, spurred the conversations to keep some type of tenant in place while that final decision is made and implemented.

"We've known we have a lease expiring in October and have been in frequent communications with the Athanas family," Fitzgerald said. "We are open to having those conversations. We are cognizant of how quickly a building that is not in use can fall into disrepair."

While Fitzgerald allowed that the town may talk with a different short-term or seasonal restaurant tenant should a deal with the Athanas family about keeping the Hawthorne open not come to fruition, adding to the intrigue of running it back at least one more summer in 2024 has been what he called "an uptick in the patrons" since the town announced its purchase of the property at last year's May annual town meeting.

"We have really developed a wonderful working relationship with the Athanas family," Fitzgerald said. "We are hoping to give people a little more time to enjoy the restaurant and celebrate the legacy of the Athanas family in running that remarkable business for more than 70 years.

"It's an iconic restaurant and will become an iconic park for the town of Swampscott."

Of course, now that the town owns the property, there will likely be expectations from at least some residents that they will be able to enjoy the use of the oceanfront sooner rather than years down the road.

"We've talked about that with a potential partner," Fitzgerald said. "There is a balance between (leasing it out) and some of those uses from my perspective.

"We would love to have the public enjoy more about the property and we are excited about its future."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)