Listen to this articleA former Boston Market restaurant property in Commack has sold for $2.45 million.
An affiliate of AJM Real Estate purchased the 3,100-square-foot building on .58 acres at 2170 Jericho Turnpike. The buyer plans to renovate the property and is seeking a new restaurant tenant.
The Boston Market that formerly occupied the Commack restaurant was evicted by the Suffolk County Sheriff in Oct. 2023, after the prior property’s landlord became fed up with the tenant’s failure to meet its obligations, as first reported by LIBN.
The Boston Market in Commack was one of several of the chain’s Long Island restaurants that were evicted from their properties over the last couple of years. Most were tossed for nonpayment of rent.
Once boasting more than 1,200 locations nationwide, Boston Market is down to only around two dozen restaurants in the U.S., according to published reports. First known as Boston Chicken, the chain was launched in Newton, Mass. in 1985 and was renamed Boston Market in 1995. After rapid expansion, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and was purchased by fast-food giant McDonald’s Corporation two years later. McDonald’s sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners in 2007 and Sun sold it in 2020 to its present owner Engage Brands, a subsidiary of Rohan Group, run by Jay Pandya, a former Dunkin’ Donuts and Pizza Hut franchisee.
The chain has struggled in recent years when it’s been taken to court repeatedly by suppliers and employees for unpaid bills and wages. Pandya has twice filed for personal bankruptcy, though the court has terminated the process over technicalities, according to published reports.
In January, Pandya tried to launch something called Boston Market Connect, a program without franchise fees where an operator could open a Boston Market within their existing restaurant, deli or gas station. But it’s unclear if the “franchise-lite” program gained any traction.
Meanwhile, many former Boston Market locations have been leased by other tenants. In West Hempstead, the 3,000-square-foot former Boston Market at the Nassau Plaza shopping center is now occupied by Wild Fork Foods. In Selden and East Islip, two former Boston Market properties are now home to Tex’s Chicken and Burgers.
In some cases, properties formerly occupied by Boston Market have been sold to new owners. In Freeport, a new owner leased the 3,034-square-foot building on .38 acres that once housed Boston Market to Starbucks. That store is currently under construction.
Doug Weinstein of RIPCO Real Estate represented the buyer, while his RIPCO Real Estate colleague Jon Winzelberg represented the seller, Northshore Leasing Associates Ltd., in the Commack sales transaction.
Weinstein and RIPCO’s John Genovese are handling the leasing of the Commack property for the new owner.
“This was another successful sale of a former Boston Market,” said Winzelberg, who also brokered the sale of the Freeport property. “It underscores the demand for well-located, second-generation restaurant space on Long Island.”