New plan approved for Sailor Ed’s property
Commission OKs construction at future site of Go Fish eatery
Mystic — The Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved a new plan for the former Sailor Ed’s property that calls for construction of a new retail and storage building and demolishing half of the existing building, with longtime area restaurateur Jon Kodama opening his Go Fish restaurant in the remaining half.
The remodeled restaurant, at 29 Old Stonington Road, would have 175 seats and the plan provides the required number of parking spots. Go Fish now is located at Olde Mistick Village.
The type of retail use for the new building has not yet been decided, according to project engineer Sergio Cherenzia, of Cherenzia & Associates of Westerly, who outlined the plan to the commission during a public hearing on Tuesday.
After the hearing, in which no members of the public spoke, the commission unanimously approved the special use permit requested by applicant and property owner George Secchiaroli of Pawcatuck. No additional approvals are needed for the project.
“That’s a big improvement down there,” commission Chairman Ben Philbrick told Cherenzia after the vote.
Commission member Lynn Conway expressed concern about creating more traffic on Old Stonington Road for the Quiambaug Fire Department located across the street. The street is often lined with cars visiting the Dog Watch Mystic restaurant. Town Planner Keith Brynes said the
fire district did not comment on the plan.
Trees, shrubs and landscaping also will be added to the site, which now has a large, crumbling asphalt lot. Commission members suggested more landscaping be added and required a landscaped island be installed between the two buildings.
Located just east of the Big Y off Route 1, Sailor Ed’s had a long run from 1924 into the 1990s, billing itself as “the Shore Dinner House of Distinction.” It was popular with locals and tourists. A series of new owners followed before the last tenant, the Tongue and Groove nightclub, shut for good about 15 years ago. It has been vacant since.
Kodama said in February he would like to open Go Fish in the new location this summer. He is considered by many to be the dean of the southeastern Connecticut restaurant scene. In addition to Steak Loft and Go Fish in Mystic, he owns the waterfront restaurant Breakwater in Stonington Borough. He also is collaborating with Old Saybrook restaurant owner Colt Taylor on a plan for an outdoor restaurant called Smoke on the Water on the site of Kodama’s former Dock & Dine restaurant at Old Saybrook Point. That restaurant was badly damaged by Hurricane Irene in 2011 and then Superstorm Sandy a year later.
Go Fish opened in 1996 but in 2017 its square footage shrunk from 13,200 to 5,817 square feet and seating was reduced from 350 to a little more than 200 as its original lease expired and some of its space was taken by a financial services firm. Go Fish was renovated at that time.
Located just east of the Big Y off Route 1, Sailor Ed’s had a long run from 1924 into the 1990s, billing itself as “the Shore Dinner House of Distinction.”