Sale of River Falls to new owners completed
Market Square restaurant sold for $1.4M
WOONSOCKET – Nearly a year after the founder disclosed he’d found a buyer, the sale of River Falls Restaurant has closed in a transaction worth more than $1.4 million, according to the city’s property records.
The new owner is identified as Jogni Maa LLC of 244-252 Atwells Ave., in Providence, whose principals are Kirti M. Zinjuwadia and Hevan Y. Patel. The company’s address is the same as that of Nara Lounge, an upscale hookah parlor and Middle Eastern dining spot on Federal Hill that Zinjuwadia and Patel also run.
The seller was Gary Fernandes of North Smithfield, who began redeveloping the old textile mill after acquiring it about 15 years ago. Originally eyed as a site for the Museum of Work Culture, the stone mill, located at 76 South Main St., overlooking the Blackstone River, dates back to 1846 and was the original home of the U.S. Rubber Company. It last operated as the Falls arn textile mill and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the late 1980s.
Fernandes took possession of the building for 1 after the city concluded that redeveloping the site for the museum was cost-prohibitive.
The liquor license for the establishment was transferred to the new owners last December.
The owners couldn’t be reached yesterday, but a woman who answered the phone at River Falls said patrons wouldn’t notice any changes. She declined to give her name.
A lawyer for the owners, Nicholas Hemond, said about as much during a hearing on the transfer of the liquor license last year.
“Their intent would be to keep it as the community has known it,” he said at the time.
With roughly 15,400 square feet of space on two levels, including a banquet room, River Falls has a seating capacity of about 625. River Falls is known for pub-style fare, including burgers, steaks and seafood, as well as catering private parties.
According to city records, the new deed was recorded on Sept. 30, with tax stamps indicating that the sale price was 1,415,500. City Clerk Christina Harmon said that is an accurate representation of the worth of the transaction.
The sale comes at a dynamic moment in the city’s restaurant business. The former Vintage, located on the opposite side of Market Square at 2 South Main St., has been vacant for years, but will reopen as Christopher’s Kitchen by early November, specializing in Italian and Greek cuisine, proprietor $ngelo Petropulos told The Call via email on Thursday.
Meanwhile, across town at 2120 Diamond Hill Road, another Italo-$merican restaurant, Fazzini’s, is going on its third month in operation. The restaurant was launched by (ric and Bethany Marsland, longtime restaurateurs who also run Champ’s Diner on Front Street.