Fire Engine Pizza Co. restaurant set to open this summer
MILFORD — Beset by seven years of construction challenges and money woes, the long-awaited Fire Engine Pizza Co. restaurant will open this year, co-owner Martin McCarthy has promised.
Workers have only to install the restaurant’s floors, drop ceiling, lighting, booths and tables. That should be done in time for a mid- to late summer opening, McCarthy said.
The restaurant planned for the 80-yearold former Melba Street firehouse follows the model of the franchise’s Bridgeport and Shelton eateries. It will serve specialty pizza and pasta dishes amid firefighter history and decor, such as fire trucks re-purposed with brick ovens for mobile pizza making.
Given the restaurant’s location, at 204 Melba St. in the beach-fronting Pond Point neighborhood, a summer opening is essential, McCarthy said.
“We really don’t want to miss another summer down there,” said McCarthy, who, in March, announced the summer opening on Facebook. “That neighborhood is so summer-driven. That said, I know if we opened on Christmas Day, the neighborhood has been so anticipating it we would still be busy. But the summertime down there on the beach, it’s a hot spot.”
McCarthy and business partner Phil Segneri bought the firehouse from the city in 2015 for $180,000. According to the Facebook posting, they have “invested upwards of $1 million” in the project.
“We have met and overcome several setbacks both financial and otherwise on this project,” the
post said. “While we have identified, attempted and unfortunately missed several deadlines over the years, our end goal has always been to open without cutting any corners. The vision for the project
has evolved to ensure the business will be the best possible aesthetic (inside & out) for the neighborhood and its surrounding community.”
Closed when the city folded in the Melba Street
and the Kings Highway fire station staff with East Side Fire Station on New Haven Avenue, the 80year-old building didn’t appear to have much of a future. Two city attempts to sell it had failed. No buyers appeared at one auction and the city rejected five later bids after setting the minimum bid at $477,000.
The refit was dogged by construction delays, the pandemic and money shortfalls, and there was also social media chatter as to when, or if, the Milford location would ever be finished.
“I don’t think we thought it was going to be easy, but we definitely underestimated the scope of the magnitude of work,” McCarthy said. “Yes, we ran out of money, but were re-loading and reborrowing. The two restaurants kind of supported this.”
McCarthy said, moving forward, he and Segneri expect only the routine difficulties that come with getting final occupancy permits.
“The city’s been good to us. From Day 1, they’ve been good to us,” McCarthy said about Milford.