Sushi Bar, Food Court Planned For Former Beachcomber Bar

QUINCY, MA — Last year, the developers of the former Beachcomber night club proposed a plan that would have brought a restaurant, apartments, and retail stores to old seaside bar. But since then, the property owners have changed their plans. The developers want to open a food court on the first floor, a high-end sushi bar on the second, and office space on the third, the Patriot Ledger reported.

The plan is scaled down significantly since the first proposal from developers, and although it will still add 89 new parking spaces to the property, changes were made because residents worried the retail shops would bring in too much traffic to the Wollaston neighborhood. Residents also didn't like that the apartments proposed could be used for short-term rentals, which they worried would function like "Airbnb" style vacation rentals.

Before the new proposal goods forward, it needs approval from the zoning and planning boards, as well as the conservation commission. If approved, it would take at least a year and a half for the site to be ready.

The new sushi bar and food court would bring business back to the former Beachcomber property for the first time since 2015. Following Beachcomber's closure, the former night club faced controversy when Scott J. Wolas, 69, a real estate mogul working under the name, Eugene Grathwohl,cheated at least 24 Beachcomber investors out of more than $1.9 million, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Wolas promised to pay out at least 125 percent of the profits related to constructing single-family homes on the property. But prosecutors proved Wolas used the money mostly for personal expenses unrelated to development of the real estate projects. He fled to Florida, where he was arrested in April 2017. Wolas pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.