The Boston Licensing Board could decide in a couple weeks whether Chris Douglass gets a liquor license for the Third Rail restaurant he's planning for the old trolley substation at Washington Street and Cummins Highway.
Douglass, who already operates the Ashmont Grill and Tavolo, in Dorchester, described a menu that would feature "a very rustic style of food," centered on the wood-fired grill he plans for the heart of the restaurant.
The grill, similar to one at the Ashmont Grill, provides "a wonderful sort of aroma and ambiance," Douglass told the board at a hearing today.
Workers are currently getting the interior of the building - unused since 1971 - ready for his restaurant and a separate craft-beer store. At the hearing, Douglass said that basic work could be finished sometime between November and January, after which he'd begin outfitting his space for a restaurant with 116 table seats and 28 bar seats.
Douglass has applied for a neighborhood-specific liquor license - which he would have to give back to the city should he close or sell the restaurant, rather than being able to sell to the highest bidder. Because the board has received so many applications for both kinds of licenses - it currently has 25 in total to dole out - it is holding off on any decisions until after at least one more round of hearings on proposals next week.
Douglass earned support at the hearing from several city councilors, including Tim McCarthy (Roslindale, Hyde Park, Mattapan), who said the restaurant would only further complete the area's transformation from gritty, barren Roslindale Square to a more attractive Roslindale Village.
He noted that at one of the first community meetings on the proposal, 300 people showed up and everybody supported Douglass's idea - something he said is rare in the community-meeting biz these days.
Adam Rogoff, a Roslindale resident who has been working since 2002 to try to get something done with the hulking substation, praised Douglass for taking a chance on a building that has proven "extraordinarily difficult" to do something with, given the extensive renovation work and unusual large, open space inside.
Far more residents submitted letters and e-mails of support for the project. "We have received quite a few letters," board Chairwoman Christine Puligini said.