The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Elizabeth’s Cafe slated to be torn down
New restaurant to be built in place of the former eatery
MADISON — A new restaurant may be coming to downtown at the site of the shuttered Elizabeth’s Cafe, if all goes to plan for a Guilford developer and investor.
Michael Ciaburri is seeking a special exception permit to demolish the old structure and build a two-story, 5,900square-foot building with a restaurant on the first floor and two residential units upstairs.
The property is part of the town’s Downtown Village District. Onsite parking for 10 spaces and site improvements are included in the proposal. There also will be on-street parking.
The Planning and Zoning Commission is continuing the public hearing on the application to March 16.
Ciaburri, owner of Worth Avenue Capital in Guilford, said he plans to sell the property to a restaurateur once the project is completed.
“We’re finishing up the approvals with the town of Madison and we expect to have those approvals done very soon,” Ciaburri said.
Once he gets the go ahead from the town, Ciaburri said he plans to “put up a beautiful new building and probably going to look to sell it and move on to the next investment.” He hopes to start construction in spring or early summer.
Elizabeth’s Café, a popular eatery in town, had been closed “as soon as COVID hit” in early 2020, according to Ciaburri.
Ciaburri’s finance company, which held the mortgage on the property, acquired it in fall 2021 through a foreclosure action against then-owner Elizabeth Parri Butler and her business, Elizabeth Parri’s Perfect Parties Inc., according to land records.
A lien was placed on the property for $450,000, the original principal of the mortgage, according to records.
“We actually ended up doing a deed in lieu of foreclosure with the borrower,” said Ciaburri, who would not comment further on the foreclosure. Parri Butler could not be reached for comment.
Ciaburri talked about his plans for the site.
“We just felt that this was an asset that’s screaming for somebody to come in and fix it up,” he said.
He was confident there will be plenty of interested buyers as “it’s the perfect spot for a restaurant” and real estate brokers are eager to list the property.
“They’re getting calls from restaurateurs, who are obviously asking questions, ‘What’s going on with the property at 885 Boston Post Road?’” he related.
The site, he said, is “tailor-made for a restaurant” and the use is grandfathered as an allowed use for the site.
Its “outstanding location” is a big part of its attraction to restaurateurs, he said. In the warmer months, Ciaburri said, “You can have a nice lunch and literally walk out the front door there, and take a right and just walk around the shops and in the center of town.”
And a new restaurant would do well in town, he said, as “there is a dearth of good restaurants on the shoreline . ... I hear these complaints all the time from people that live here.”
Ciaburri said the building’s dilapidated condition prompted his decision to raze it. “It didn’t make sense to renovate the property. For what it would cost ... we could build a new building,” he said.
The new restaurant’s design will be a nod to Greek Revival and the architect on the project is Wayne Garrick. “He’s a top shelf architect, he’s very good at what he does,” Ciaburri said.
Ciaburri said real estate deals are not par for the course for his Guilfordbased company.
“We don’t do a lot of building, we do more investing — a little bit of fix and flip,” he explained. “But our principal business is really lending money” to small businesses, real estate developers and investors.
Other high-profile real estate ventures his firm has been involved with include “one of the prime pieces of real estate in all of Middlesex County,” the vacant waterfront location of the former iconic Dock and Dine, which was leveled twice, by storms Irene and Sandy.
That parcel now is a sprawling parking lot which overlooks the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, owned by restaurateur Jon Kadama, who has yet to develop it.
For the Madison project, he said, “The first step obviously is to demo the building” and “then get the construction going.”
“It’s going to take a while, but that’s OK, we’re in no rush,” he added. “We just want it to be done within the code that the town allows and do it properly and do a great job.”
“The completed project’s going to be gorgeous and will be something that the town will be proud of when they see it.”