New Restaurant Approved for Summer Street

A new Asian restaurant with a sushi bar is moving into two of the three long-vacant storefronts across from Summer Street Field.

Sono restaurant received common victualler and all-alcohol licenses Monday from the Board of Selectmen in a unanimous vote. A common victualler license allows a business to serve food.

The restaurant will occupy the two vacant storefronts to the right of 469-471 Summer St., leaving one vacant space between it and Arlington Cafe, which is actually a pizza place. It plans to open this June or July, its owner, Huanhuan Lin, wrote on his application for the licenses.

The 1,807-square-foot restaurant is expected to seat 50, 40 at tables and 10 at the sushi bar, according to the application. It will not have a lounge bar, and it will stay open until about 10-10:30 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday and 11:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.

Vacant Since 2008

The storefronts have been empty since the summer of 2008. A representative for the property’s owners told the board Monday that there has been little interest in the space, other than the failed liquor-store application last summer. (At that time, the board granted the two new liquor-store licenses to Mystic Wine Shoppe and the Meat House.)

The representative said the owners have put a lot of work into the building.

Selectman Steven Byrne said he was “very happy” to see the space being filled.

The board did add a condition to the licenses that before the restaurant opens, the block’s back parking lot, which has 16 spaces, must be repaved. The representative said the property’s owners were planning to do this regardless.

Sono’s owner, Lin, is also putting $150,000 into renovations. He is spending another $20,000 on initial start-up costs and $10,000 more on inventory, according to his application.

Lin and his business partner Wu Chen signed a 10-year lease with Watertown-based Summer Realty Services for $3,162 per month, or $37,947 per year, according to the application.

Neighbors’ Concerns

Two residents from Glenbrook Lane, which runs behind the storefronts, raised some concerns with the proposal.

One man said he was concerned about parking, the potential placement of the restaurant’s dumpster and grease buckets and the noise from its exhaust fan. A woman raised similar concerns and said she worried about having alcohol being served so close to Summer Street Field. “[The restaurant] will lower our property values,” she told the board.

Board chairman Kevin Greeley replied that empty storefronts also lower property values. Selectman Daniel Dunn urged Lin to work with his neighbors early and often.

Owners

Lin, a Malden resident who was born in China, was most recently a sushi chef at restaurants in Reading and Chelmsford. Previously, he worked at Sake in Portsmouth, N.H. He is also a partner of an Asian restaurant in Pittsfield.

Lin and Chen have equal stakes in Sono. Chen, of Quincy, did not attend Monday’s meeting. Lin was represented by an attorney.

Past Coverage

• Three New Businesses Looking to Come to Arlington