Move over, tiki torches and scorpion bowls — Kowloon Restaurant could soon be serving more housing to Saugus.
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The family that owns the famous North Shore Asian restaurant along Route 1, along with development partners, presented plans to the town for a two-building, 198-unit apartment project on the site, Banker & Tradesman reported.
The project would tear down the restaurant to make way for the new development, but the apartment building would include a smaller, 20K SF space on the ground floor for Kowloon to reopen.
The Wong family, which began operating the restaurant in 1959, is listed as the applicant for the master plan review for the 7-acre site. The family has been toying with plans to put residential space on the site since 2021, when it revealed preliminary plans for the two-building redevelopment.
"The goal of our client is to design something that is built to last, that's well-thought-out and will stand the test of time," Dennis Mires Architects partner Michael McKeown said during the Thursday meeting of the Saugus Planning Board.
The project would include a drive-thru lane for restaurant patrons. Both buildings would include ground-floor retail, and the project is planned to be developed in phases in an effort not to disrupt Kowloon's business.
The original proposal included 220 units, so the new plan represents a 10% reduction.
The restaurant owners celebrated Kowloon's 75th anniversary in August and discussed the future of the property.
"It's exciting, but at the same time, it's going to be bittersweet when they knock the building down, because this is a place that I've been going here for over 50 years, driving to work," Bob Wong told NBC10 at the time.
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