Selectmen Grant Carla’s Restaurant 10-Year Lease on Former Town Fire Station-September 7, 1989

Overriding explicit objections from Town Counsel Justin Barton, the Board of Selectmen voted last night to award Carla’s Restaurant a fresh 10-year lease for its home inside the former municipal fire station located in Norwood Center.

“While I have to respect the town counsel’s opinion, I’m totally comfortable with this,” said Selectman Joseph Curran. “One of the finest things that’s happened in Norwood is Carla’s Restaurant.”

The board’s unanimous action cancels Carla’s existing lease, which was originally set to expire in 1993, and immediately replaces it with the new decade-long agreement. Town Counsel Barton had cautioned the board that state law restricts selectmen from renting public building space for a maximum duration of 10 years, arguing that executing a brand-new lease term would run afoul of statutory limitations. However, Joseph Hameline, a Boston attorney representing the restaurant, brushed aside the legal concerns, stating, “There is nothing which remotely states or suggests that this is against the letter or spirit of the law.”

Financial Terms and Restaurant Background

Under the terms of the new lease arrangement, Carla’s will pay the town $61,920 in annual rent beginning in 1994, with subsequent yearly increases capped at a maximum of 4 percent annually over the following five years. The restaurant currently pays $57,500 per year.

Opened in 1983 by co-owners Carla Foley and her brother, Peter Maglia, Carla’s has invested approximately $500,000 into comprehensive interior and structural renovations transforming the historic former fire station at the corner of Nahatan and Central streets into a premier dining destination recognized by Boston magazine as the best Italian restaurant on the South Shore.

Maglia and Foley had previously petitioned Town Meeting in March 1988 to purchase the municipal property outright, but that request was defeated. At the time, Foley warned that the restaurant would vacate Norwood when its original lease lapsed in 1993. Following last night’s vote, however, Foley expressed delight that the establishment’s future in Norwood is secured. “I am one happy person,” she said.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger