Grafton Set to Close April 15

Grafton Street--the four-year-old bar and grille that has become a symbol of family entrepreneurship in Harvard Square--will vacate its prime Mass. Ave location on April 15.

And the upscale bar might be forced to close its doors for good.

While owner Patrick Lee had hoped to evade the looming threat of leaving the Square by moving to the 1 Bow St. building that previously housed the storied Bow and Arrow Pub, he now says he fears that he will not have the financial capital to reopen.

"Given the time frame and economic realities, we don't know whether we're going to be able to do it," Lee says. "We're really at our wit's end here."

Packing Up Too Soon

The 31-year-old Boston native says that when he opened Grafton Street in Oct. 1996 with his brother and two friends, he had expected to stay in the Square for the long haul.

The restaurant that previously occupied the 1280 Mass Ave spot stayed for 50 years.

And Lee says T.H. Niles Real Estate Group, the building's owner, gave him the impression that Grafton Street could do the same.

"We had the perception that we'd have a lease here for a long time. If we had known what was going to happen, we just never would've opened," Lee says.

But Thomas H. Niles disagrees.

Niles says that in conversations with Lee, he was careful not to give the restaurant owner that impression.

When Lee moved into the Square, he signed on to a pre-existing lease for One Potato, Two Potato, the restaurant that had occupied the site.

From the beginning, Niles says, he was hesitant about having a restaurant as a tenant. No matter how clean a restaurant is, he says, there are always problems with odor and trash.

Before Grafton Street moved in, he says he was plagued by the smell of bacon in his office.

"Restaurants have been a huge problem in the building," Niles says.

So when the lease expired this past September, Niles says he simply decided not to keep a restaurant in the building--a possibility he says he had broached with Lee four years ago.

"He went into it knowing that he'd have to convince me to keep a restaurant," Niles says. "I feel for the guy, but he just didn't convince me."

"I just didn't want cooking on the premises any more," Niles continues.

Lee says he feels misled, however.

His business decisions for the past four years, he says, have been based on an inaccurate assumption.

But Niles says Lee was ignoring the obvious.

"I told him we might not extend the lease, but he didn't want to hear it," Niles says. "He just stuck his head in the sand."

Financially, it might be in Niles' best interest to keep Grafton Street as a tenant, but he says it's just not worth the continued inconvenience of having a restaurant below an office space.

"I could probably have made more money with them here," he says. "But some things are more important than money."

Instead, Grafton Street's upcoming move will result in the expansion of the neighboring Cambridgeport Bank.

The bank will take over half of the space Bob Slate's currently occupies, and Niles has offered the stationary store the opportunity to expand into the current Grafton site.

Ulterior Motive?

But Lee questions the rationale behind Niles' decision not to extend the lease.

He says he doubts Niles's decision was simply based on a desire for a food-free tenant--and he blames his bar's tenuous situation on the bank's decision to expand.

"We find it very curious that a small bank that claims to be a bank for the little guy is kicking out a small business," Lee says.

But Cambridgeport Bank President and CEO James B. Keegan '63 says he only became interested in the space after Grafton Street's lease had expired.

"Nothing ever happened along the lines of the bank scheming to get rid of the little guy," Keegan says. "That's just silly. The space became available, and we were pleased with the opportunity to expand."

The bank's current location--a rather narrow space--is simply too small for its growing customer base, Keegan says.

"It's hard for us to get a lot of customers in there and give people privacy," Keegan says. "This will give us a chance to become much more full-service.

"Our being able to expand just has nothing to do with Grafton Street," he adds.

When questioned about the bank's involvement in the building's renovation, Niles is equally emphatic.

"If anyone should be taking the heat for asking Grafton to leave it's me--because I did," he says.

But Lee insists that Cambridgeport assume some responsibility.

"They can claim whatever they want," he says. "But the fact is that if they weren't expanding, we'd still be there."

Do Not Go Gently, Sweet Liquers

If nothing else, Lee says, he should be allowed to stay until the renovation of the Bow St. building is complete.

At least four months will separate Grafton Street's closing from the opening of the Bow St. space.

For Lee, this represents a painful stretch of time with a seriously diminished cash flow.

Each week that the restaurant is closed will make a reopening less and less likely, he says.

"Right now, we're attractive because we're an established business, so we're getting the first shot at [the Bow St. building,]" Lee says. "But after we're closed for six months, we might not look so good any more."

But Niles says his hands are tied.

He extended the bar's lease from September to April, but says he simply cannot drag it out any longer.

"I've already made commitments to Slate's and to the bank. Construction needs to begin soon," he says. "There are commitments I need to deliver on."

Lee just doesn't see it that way.

He says that Niles and Cambridgeport should have found some way to let the restaurant stay--at least through Commencement.

"I feel really bad for the seniors. I know a lot of them by face, if not by name," he says.

Lee says he fears that the restaurant's closing will put a damper on their social lives during their last spring in the Square.

"If you're used to going into a place and identify it with your college experience, it's just not fair to have it close a month before graduation," Lee says.

And with the April 14 date quickly approaching, Lee says the staff is already growing nostalgic.

About two weeks ago, he told his employees about the bar's unavoidable--and perhaps final--closing.

"It was only after we told them that it really started to hit home with us," Lee says. "We just started realizing that we wouldn't be here forever."

"There are just a lot of memories. It's definitely an ending for us," he continues.

But Niles seems unconcerned. He says he has simply done all he can for the business.

"It's a disruption for him, and it'll be expensive," Niles says. "But when the dust settles, it'll be fine."

Lee isn't so sure. When he speaks about the prospect of reopening, he simply seems discouraged.

"To tell you the truth, there are just so many stumbling blocks," Lee says. "We'll lose our whole staff, people will go on with their lives and it'll be really tough to reopen with other people."

--Staff writer Daniela J. Lamas can be reached at lamas@fas.harvard.edu.