Application Submitted to Replace Bocelli's in South Medford With Apartment Complex

According to an article in the Medford Transcript, developer Rick Welch of Mesiti Group has submitted an application to the Historical Commission that would demolish a strip of businesses in South Medford that includes Bocelli's Ristorante and would replace it with a 12-unit apartment complex with retail space on the ground floor. The post says that the Historical Commission voted last month that the Main Street structure--which is nearly 100 years old--is historically significant and that a public hearing on the issue is expected to take place on August 20, with a vote favoring that the building should be preferably preserved potentially keeping it from being torn down for at least 18 months. Mesiti Group has not yet submitted a formal presentation on the proposal, and Bocelli's owner Nick Catricala indicates that there is no longer a deal between him and Rick Welch, saying that "The restaurant Bocelli's is going to stay here."

Bocelli's is an old-school Italian restaurant known in part for its cozy basement dining room, with the spot residing in the space where the iconic DePasquale's restaurant had once been; our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants) has featured it as an under-the-radar spot, with the review being found at this link:

The address for Bocelli's is 374 Main Street, Medford, MA, 02155. Its website can be found at http://www.bocellisrestaurant.com/