Saugus board grants restaurant 90-day reorganization period

SAUGUS – The shuttered Twitters restaurant in the Square One Mall on Broadway received a 90-day reprieve Tuesday from the Board of Selectmen.The board voted unanimously to allow Twitters to make an attempt to reorganize and reopen for business. However, the selectmen stipulated that should another restaurant company express interest in opening at the site, the reprieve would not be enough to keep the competition at bay.Twitters closed last January. The Square One Mall holds the liquor license, granted by Town Meeting and a special act of the state Legislature, said Selectman Scott Crabtree. The license can only be used at the mall location.”This is the first I’m hearing the liquor license has value,” Susan Yee, general manager of the Square One Mall, told the board.Yee said she presumed the license had to be turned back to the board if unused.”We’re really disappointed that the restaurant closed. We would like to work with them as much as possible,” she said, noting that mall management discarded all opened bottles of alcoholic beverages when Twitters closed its doors. Unopened alcohol was put into locked storage, she said.Selectman Steve Horlick said the mall will likely be actively looking for a restaurant tenant and, should that become a reality in the next 90 days, Twitters could find itself without a location.Attorney Glenn Frank, representing Twitters at the show-cause hearing, said the restaurant could come up with a solution if allowed 60-90 days. He asked the board not to revoke the license. Frank said attempts to maintain the business were hampered by a lack of financial resources.Yee said the restaurant concept was well-suited to the mall, which would benefit from such an establishment.