ITEM FILE PHOTO
Route 1 Miniature Golf & Batting Cages’ orange dinosaur
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — The iconic orange dinosaur will live to watch over Route 1 a little longer.
Despite plans to close his stomping grounds last year, the Route 1 Miniature Golf & Batting Cages will be open for one more season.
Last fall, owner Diana Fay signed a purchase and sale agreement for the 1.2-acre attraction for an undisclosed amount. The buyers, Michael Touchette and Michael Barsamian of TB Holdings Inc., also bought an adjacent 2-acre parcel in 2013 for $1.4 million.
The Lynnfield-based company plans to turn the site into a mixed-use development, which will include hotels, apartments, restaurants and shops.
Both parties agreed that if construction for the development didn’t begin by spring, keeping the park open in 2016 would be an option.
“The project is taking a little longer to get off the ground, so the passing date will be in September,” Fay said. “We couldn’t sit there for the spring and not open, knowing that we’re going to have a full season.”
Opened in 1958, the park, which includes an 18-hole miniature golf course, batting cages and Dairy Castle ice cream stand, is best known for the beloved creature that has lurked over Route 1 for generations.
Fay and her husband, Richard, took over the family business from her uncle, Nicholas Melchionna, in 1979.
Fay said the North Shore’s sad reaction to the park closing was a contributing factor to the decision to reopen this season.
“There’s a lot of happiness involved,” she said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but we know that the hard work is understood and appreciated. We heard it from the people who expressed lots of happy stories and memories.”
The Dairy Castle will open April 15. While an opening day for the remainder of the park has not been set, Fay said she and her crew are preparing to launch before April school vacation week.
“New baseballs have been ordered,” Fay said. “Everything is powerwashed. Tomorrow morning a painter will be on site to see what needs to be touched up. We want everything to look as good as it always does.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.
