By THOMAS GRILLO
SAUGUS — Two icons will share the same location on Route 1 when Kane’s Donuts opens its newest store next year adjacent to the orange dinosaur.
Kane’s, the Saugus landmark that has won legions of fans with its mouth-watering treats, is planning to open a 3,500-square-foot cafe at Essex Landing. The $120 million development under construction at the former Route 1 Miniature Golf & Batting Cages site will include 250 apartments, two hotels, shops and a parking garage.
“I love the site,” said Paul Delios, president of Kane’s Donuts. “We took a drive around the property and I fell in love with the idea of being on Route 1. It’s all good. It’s a positive thing for us.”
When the store opens next December, it will be the third Kane’s and the first with a drive-through. The family-owned original store is on Lincoln Avenue. Last year, they opened at International Place in downtown Boston.
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The idea for another cafe had its roots last summer when Delios met Michael Barsamian, a partner in the Essex Landing project, at a fundraiser.
“Mike asked me if I’d be interested in the site, but I didn’t know much about the project,” he said. “I told him I’d love to sit down and talk about it and we did. That site was blighted, but they are planning to do something spectacular and I’m delighted they asked us to be a part of it.”
Kane’s has been a haven for guilty pleasures such as its maple bacon, raspberry jelly, chocolate candy cane and eggnog doughnuts.
‘We were so happy to get Kane’s,” said Barsamian. “They are such a fabric of Saugus.”
After nearly six decades, Miniature Golf closed in September. But the iconic orange dinosaur won’t travel far. Barsamian bought the 20-foot tyrannosaurus rex for an undisclosed price and plans to install it next to the new hotel along with a pitch and putt net. Meanwhile, it’s still in the same spot overlooking Route 1.
TB Holdings Inc., an entity managed by Barsamian and Michael Touchette, bought a vacant 1.2-acre site next to the golf course in 2013 for $3.3 million, and they closed on the 1.4-acre golf parcel in September for $1.4 million.
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Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].