Insurance Firm Owner Sees Building Purchase as Investment in Adams
The kitchen will be decommissioned and closed off until the next phase of renovation. Bissaillon said a number of other restaurant owners were able to take some of the equipment.
David Bissaillon of Smith Bros.-McAndrew Insurance is relocating the 125-year-old company to the former Red Carpet restaurant.
"It just made a lot of sense to me," he said Wednesday. "We've always been very active in things going on in the town of Adams for over 125 years. And this now gives us a chance to be an investor in a building as opposed to paying rent."
Bissaillon became owner and president of Smith Bros.-McAndrew in 2018; a year later, George Haddad and his sister Ann Bartlett decided it was time to close their restaurant, a Park Street mainstay for nearly 70 years.
Bissaillon sees the move as a positive endorsement of the town and visible investment in its future.
"We have to talk about the future of Park Street and Adams. There's a lot going on right now and and quite honestly that had a big part in my decision to invest into purchase, because I really do feel that Adams is headed in the right direction," he said, citing the new businesses that have opened, the rail trail and Greylock Glen project. "I've been here my entire life and I feel like right now it's never been a better time to be a part of what's going on and Adams."
Smith Bros.-McAndrew has been temporarily at 45 Park after having to move out its last offices because of problems with that building. It's been in a number of locations up and down Park Street over the years.
Bissaillon said he could have done well off the main street but that Park Street is where the company's roots are.
"We've always been been tenants, which has been great. But the opportunity presented itself and we're really not planning on going anywhere else," he said. "So a Park Street building made sense."
SBM currently has five employees and could add another once the move is completed. Bissaillon noted the location is well known, has parking in the rear and the Police Department for a neighbor.
Keith Dedominici had purchased the property in 2021 from Haddad and Bartlett. Bissaillon, as 69 Park Street LLC, bought the building from him on Dec. 21 for $235,000.
Since then, he's been slowly emptying the restaurant — the booths are mostly gone and the kitchen's been stripped of supplies by other diners.
The work to transform the building into offices will be phased in with the front dining area, bathrooms and rear entrance done first. The kitchen will be blocked off for now with plans down the road to turn into a conference room, offices and break area. The upstairs apartment is occupied and there are no plans to change that.
"I think [the contractors] are gonna go at it hard for a month and we'll have a good idea of where we are then ... But optimistically in the next couple of months, we'd like to be in here," Bissaillon said.
He said he's spoken with Haddad and Bartlett and that "they're happy that it's our agency and that it's awesome. That we're going to be the next holders of this space."
And he said he's heard all the jokes now about grabbing a sandwich and insurance.
"Unfortunately, all we're gonna be cooking up is good deals on insurance," he laughed. "We won't be the Red Carpet. But as I said, we'll continue to deliver red carpet treatment to our customers."
Tags: business changes, insurance, Park Street,
