City Council Okays Fourth Restaurant For Woburn Landing

WOBURN, MA -- In what appears to be an about face from November, Woburn City Council approved the addition of a fourth restaurant to the Woburn Landing project earlier this month. The 8-2 vote came after a meeting in November, when councilors raised concerns about the developer's plan to add a third restaurant. The development is on the former W.R. Grace site and on a stretch of Washington Street notorious for its bottle-necked traffic.

"You're talking about stuffing two restaurants in one building," At-Large Alderman Michael Concannon said at the Jan. 2 meeting. "If I didn't like three, I don't see how I'd like four."

Concannon and Ward 5 Councilor Darlene Mercer-Bruen, whose district includes the development, were the two city council members who voted against the approval. A Red Robin restaurant is already operating on the site and a Chik-Fil-A restaurant is under construction. The two additional restaurants -- 110 Grill and an as-yet-unspecified, sit-down restaurant -- would be located in a 250-room hotel being constructed on the site.

The original, 2015 approval for the project called for three restaurants. But in November, the developer asked to modify the plan to include two restaurants instead of one in the hotel. City Council initially balked at the plan because one of the restaurants, a Blaze Pizza location, was seen as a high-turnover, fast food restaurant that would increase traffic in the area.

But the more recent change to a sit-down eatery, was enough to sway a majority of councilors to siding with the expanded project. Before the vote, Mercer-Bruen said council should not approve the plan until they knew the specifics of the proposed restaurant.

"I'm a little skeptical, based on what's gone on there in the past couple of years," she said. "It feels a little hanky to me."

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).