UPDATED: Hoboken Seafood Eatery That Replaced Maxwell's To Open

HOBOKEN, NJ — The famed Maxwell's rock club in Hoboken closed its doors for good in 2018. Now the space is being given new life as a seafood restaurant and raw bar, after restaurateur Gabi Lombardi purchased it later in 2018 and began transforming it.

According to Instagram, it's set to open this Monday, Oct. 5. It's called Sirenetta (meaning "Mermaid" in Italian).

Besides its musical name, the restaurant is occupying a musical corner; Lombardi's Italian restaurant across the street, Sorellina, has been offering music outdoors some nights during outdoor dining.

Sirenetta has been posting sporadic photos of its interior over the last three months. See them here.

Any article on the transformation of Maxwell's tends to inspire laments from fans of the rock club. Famous bands graced the stage as their careers were starting to take off in the 1970s through the 1990s — including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and the Pixies.

But as others have pointed out, the club didn't close because someone wanted to buy it. The restaurant had closed and reopened once before. Its owners cited changing times in Hoboken before they closed again, including the dearth of parking. Band booker Todd Abramson had opined in 2013, "A lot of the bars downtown are fighting with each other for who has the most giant TVs. That's what Hoboken nightlife has become." He moved on to bring talent to White Eagle Hall and WFMU in Jersey City.

Maxwell's, at the corner of Washington and Eleventh streets, was founded by Steve Fallon in 1978. It's named after the former Maxwell House coffee plant around the corner, whose workers used to visit.

The factory on the waterfront closed in 1992 as more of Hoboken's industrial areas transformed into residences, and it's now the "grounds" for Maxwell Place Condos.

In a story in May about Sirenetta, JerseyDigs reported, "The future restaurant was slated to seat about 100 and include a small outdoor cafe section along the 11th Street side of the building, but their initial capacity could be scaled back if they open when some covid-19 restrictions are in place."

In fact, starting this month, New Jersey restaurants are allowed to indoor dining at 25 percent capacity (see the rules for Hoboken here), but outdoor dining has become popular too, with several dozen Hoboken restaurants expanding into "streateries" and "parklets." Last week, Mayor Ravi Bhalla said outdoor dining can continue into winter.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To keep up with Hoboken breaking news when it happens, and get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts and daily newsletters.