SALISBURY — Described as an eyesore for the town since shutting down in 1994, the former Mangia Restaurant on North End Boulevard is set to be torn down to make way for new townhomes, much to the delight of town officials.
“It’s a piece of property that’s been vacant for a long time. You got rats living in there and all that stuff. It was a nasty piece of property right now. It’s nice to see that they put a nice little development in there,” Selectman Gil Medeiros said.
For roughly 18 years, the former Mangia restaurant remained empty after its owners abandoned it. Over time, the building slowly decayed until it became so unstable that officials placed a large X on it, warning firefighters not to go inside.
The two parcels, 113 and 115 North End Blvd., total almost three-fourths of an acre and are only yards from Salisbury Beach.
In 2015, and only after a lengthy court battle, the town seized the property from Joyce and Gracemarie Tomaselli after they failed to pay taxes and other fees.
The dispute between Salisbury and the Tomasellis dates back to 1991 after the sisters bought the property and opened a restaurant.
The issue was a long-standing complaint by the women who said they never knew about a sewer betterment requirement and other sewer fees for the property.
It eventually led to a tax dispute and a number of unsuccessful lawsuits they filed against the town. In 1994, the restaurant was forced to close for failing to pay taxes.
The building was sold at auction in April 2022 for $775,000 to Daly Holding Company and Pridestar Trinity EMS owner David Daly.
“I’ve been driving by there for 20 years and seeing this vacant eyesore of a building sitting there and always wondering what the history of it was and then it came up for auction,” Daly said.
Daly’s project will see seven townhomes build featuring ground floor covered parking for two cars; two bedrooms and a full bath on the first floor; a primary bedroom, primary bath and den with covered deck and a half bathroom on the second floor; and a kitchen, half bathroom, living room with fireplace and balcony on the third floor.
Daly could not speak to a timeline for that project.
“One of the big challenges right now is the volatility of lumber and steel. That will kind of dictate the timing of the project at this point,” Daly said.
In regards to the demolition of the old building, Daly said it was “imminent.”
“Our team is ready to go, so we’ll start within 24 hours of the town issuing us the demo permit. So, we’re hoping that will happen within anywhere from 24 hours to the next week or so,” Daly said.
Asked for her reaction to the building being set to finally come down, Salisbury Chamber of Commerce Director Linda Boragine said she has many memories of it as her father-in-law used to own it under a different name 36 years ago.
“That was Raffaello’s. He bought it from Sunray Bakery, and he made it into Raffaello’s, and he sold it when he moved to Italy,” Boragine said.
She said she was sad to see the building go but understood it was no longer safe to have around.
“If you can’t save something, then you have to move on,” Boragine said.
Selectman Michael Colburn similarly said the town would be losing a piece of its history when the building goes down.
“Mangia’s now is one of the last couple pieces that was the Salisbury I grew up in,” Colburn said.
Daily News editor Dave Rogers contributed to this report.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.