Long Wharf restaurant plan sinks; operators to try luck in South Boston

The proposed operators of a seafood restaurant in what is now an open shelter on Long Wharf say they're going to try to rehab an abandoned seafood place in South Boston into a neighborhood eatery instead.

Michael Conlon went before the Boston Licensing Board this morning for permission to transfer a liquor license granted in 2007 to Doc's Long Wharf to a planned Paramount restaurant at 667 E. Broadway.

The board and the BRA approved plans for the Long Wharf restaurant in 2007, but a group of North End residents sued, arguing the plans would illegally convert public parkland into a private facility. In May of this year, the licensing board told Conlon it was time to fish or cut bait and do something with the license or have it taken away. The next month, a Suffolk Superior Court judge threw out a state permit for the proposed restaurant.

Conlon and attorney Joseph Hanley told the licensing board they will turn the old Fish Pier into a restaurant very similar to the Paramount restaurant Conlon already co-owns on Beacon Hill. Conlon also co-owns West on Centre in West Roxbury, the 21st Amendment on Beacon Hill and the Blarney Stone in Fields Corner.

Hanlon said there is "significant need" for a new restaurant at that location, both because of the growing residential community in South Boston and because the new restaurant would eliminate a vacant, derelict storefront.

Conlon said the new restaurant could be open by fall. The board decides tomorrow whether to transfer the license.