THE BLUEPRINT:
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Vacant Boston Market at Lighthouse Commons in Shirley slated for redevelopment
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Site will be demolished and replaced with a 3,500-square-foot Wells Fargo branch
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Property is located at 803 Montauk Highway on a .73-acre pad site
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Project reflects Wells Fargo’s continued expansion on Long Island
Another former Long Island Boston Market restaurant will soon be transformed into a new use.
The freestanding Boston Market restaurant that has sat vacant on a pad site in the Lighthouse Commons shopping center in Shirley is being redeveloped into a Wells Fargo bank branch.
Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico announced on Facebook that the town’s Planning Board was working with the applicant on the project, which would demolish the existing restaurant building on .73 acres at 803 Montauk Highway and replace it with a 3,500-square-foot bank branch. The property is owned by Carle Place-based Sun Enterprises LLC.
The Boston Market in Shirley is the latest of several other of the vanquished chain’s locations that are now either leased to other tenants or redeveloped for other uses. In West Hempstead, the 3,000-square-foot former Boston Market at the Nassau Plaza shopping center is now occupied by Wild Fork Foods. In Selden and East Islip, two former Boston Market properties are now home to Tex’s Chicken and Burgers. In Freeport, the former Boston Market was redeveloped into a 3,034-square-foot Starbucks, and the former Boston Market in Hicksville is now home to a Wild Fig restaurant.
Once boasting more than 1,200 locations nationwide, Boston Market had about 15 restaurants remaining on Long Island up until a couple of years ago when many were evicted for nonpayment of rent, as first reported by LIBN. Today, there are none left here, as the chain has struggled and taken to court repeatedly by suppliers and employees for unpaid bills and wages.
First known as Boston Chicken, the chain was launched in Newton, Mass. in 1985 and was renamed Boston Market in 1995. After rapid expansion, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and was purchased by fast-food giant McDonald’s Corporation two years later. McDonald’s sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners in 2007 and Sun sold it in 2020 to its present owner Engage Brands, a subsidiary of Rohan Group, run by Jay Pandya, a former Dunkin’ Donuts and Pizza Hut franchisee.
In Jan. 2024, Pandya tried to launch something called Boston Market Connect, a program without franchise fees where an operator could open a Boston Market within their existing restaurant, deli or gas station. But it’s unclear if the “franchise-lite” program gained any traction.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo is in the midst of a major Long Island expansion. The bank opened a new branch in Lake Grove last October, the third Wells Fargo branch opened on Long Island last year. The new branches are part of Wells Fargo’s strategy to expand on Long Island and around New York. The company now has more than 80 branches across the state.
David Winzelberg
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