BURRILLVILLE – For 74 years, locals visited 66 Pascoag Main St. to see members of the Ciummo family, and buy their tools, paint, building supplies and more.
But now, the structure will come down to make way for another longtime Burrillville business’s growth.
George’s Pizza and Pub owners Mark Murphy and his son, Jonathan Murphy, purchased the Pascoag property in March from Ralph Ciummo for $230,000, with the help of a loan from the Burrillville Redevelopment Agency. The two-story, wood frame structure was built in 1897, according to town property records.
The pizza shop adjoins the now vacant building, which held Chum’s Hardware for decades prior to its closing last year. The Murphys had previously arranged a deal to have first dibs on the property if it ever went up for sale.
The Redevelopment Agency, which has worked to address blight and to bring life to Burrillville’s sleepy former mill villages for the past two decades, stepped in to help with the financing.
“It took them a while to filter out what they’re going to do,” said agency Chairman Jim Langlois of the project.
Langlois noted that the restaurant owners have indicated they plan to expand their current business, a restaurant at 60 Pascoag Main St. that serves sandwiches, pizza, Italian dishes and more.
“One of the features we particularly like is they’re going to put a deck out back overlooking the river,” he said.
Mark Murphy confirmed with NRI NOW on Wednesday, Oct. 22 that the plan is to add 15 feet to George’s existing space and construct a new deck.
“We’d be making a bigger and better kitchen,” he said. “We’re drawing out a plan now for what that would look like.”
Murphy noted that the changes will also ultimately result in more dining space.
Lifelong Burrillville residents, the Murphys have worked with town officials on past revitalization efforts in Pascoag, building a mixed use commercial and residential space where The New York Department store once stood. The business owners also built a portion of the Riverwalk connecting Sayles Avenue and High Street in Pascoag.
In 2019, they purchased The Western Hotel, expanding their food service reach to a second town village.
The work is already underway on their latest expansion, with a large dumpster now parked on Pascoag Main to collect debris from the former three generation hardware business. Situated in a tightly-packed village center, the familiar pea green structure, which has long shown signs of decay, is now being disassembled.
“It was in rough shape,” said Langlois, noting that the agency looked at the structure several times with the town building inspector. “We determined that it was a knockdown. There really is no sense in trying to save it.”
So far, Mark Murphy has been taking the old building down himself, board by board with a hammer and a crowbar, noting that he plans to hire an excavator to remove the bottom half.
“The woodwork is unbelievable,” he said of the historic construction of the former hardware store.
The Murphys’ acquisition also included a second small building adjacent to the structure, which once held an electronics business. That space has now been leased to a crafting store.
Langlois noted that the Murphys’ plans also include improvements to their current building. The owners recently painted the street-facing side of that two story structure, built in 1929. He said that more improvements at 60 Pascoag Main will likely get underway once construction of the restaurant’s addition begins.
Editor’s note: The above article has been edited from its original version to add comments from Mark Murphy.
