The Castle in Park Square will soon be sans filet mignon.
Smith & Wollensky announced it will close its Back Bay restaurant and focus on its two other local restaurants, one along Fort Point Channel and one in downtown Wellesley. The Medford-based company said it re-evaluated its Greater Boston space needs when its 15-year lease renewal at the Castle, a former armory dating to 1897, came up for renewal, the Boston Globe reports.
The 26K SF Castle space can seat up to 500 patrons across three floors, and Smith & Wollensky President Michael Feighery told the Globe that staying in the space would have also meant significant renovations.
“The Castle has given us amazing visibility over the years,” he said. “But the [restaurant] is 15 years old, and it would likely take a considerable amount of [capital expenditures] to invest back into it.”
The company’s other Boston locations show the company’s future is one with a smaller footprint. The 9K SF Fort Point restaurant opened in 2011 and coincided with the company moving its corporate headquarters to Boston. The Wellesley space, which once housed Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger, will have 250 seats and a patio.
The suburban location, if successful, is expected to be an expansion model for other markets like Chicago and Miami.
