More restaurants close in Federal Hill, Garden City
by TEMI-TOPE ADELEYE, NBC 10 NEWS
Three more restaurants are joining the growing list of closed businesses.
Saint Restaurant and Federal TapHouse and Kitchen on Atwells Avenue have both closed.
Weekly Federal Hill visitor Shaheer Jamil said it is disappointing seeing businesses close.
“It’s kind of sad…usually these restaurants are places that I’ve been to pretty often, so it’s sad seeing them leave,” said Jamil.
In a statement to NBC 10, Rick Simone with the Federal Hill Commerce Association said he expects the TapHouse space to be rented out soon.
Saint, on the other hand, will rebrand with a new look and theme before reopening in four to six months.
Frequent Federal Hill visitor Stacy Smith said she has been to Saint a few times.
“I’m curious about Saint. It hasn’t been there for that long and I know the owner has other restaurants scattered about,” said Smith. “But even Zooma…they rebranded and changed their name too so I’m not exactly sure why everybody’s having to do that other than where I see the changes with all of the generations of people.”
Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a staple at the Garden City Center for seven years, is also closing.
A spokesperson with Garden City sent the following statement to NBC 10.
“While they have made the decision to close their doors, we look forward to bringing exciting new businesses to our community soon.”
Back on Federal Hill, Smith and Arian Giorgianni have been dining here for more than a decade. They have also worked on Hill.
“Yeah, you know the Hill has changed a lot. A lot of places that were here 10, 15 years ago aren’t,” said Smith. “Then there’s some staples that have stayed and we’ve seen a lot of things come in and then not last and kind of go out the door.”
Giorgianni said she worked at Sienna which departed from the Hill awhile back.
“I worked on the Hill for about a decade and I watched a lot of restaurants close and changeover and rebrand,” said Giorgianni. “Some of them I was sad to see go, but sometimes it’s nice to have a fresh new restaurant to go to.”
The City of Providence said businesses can lawfully change their name at any time.
For businesses that plan major changes like Saint, they will need approval from the license board.