Something is cooking at former Hilltop site

SAUGUS – The stockyard doors have closed, and the cows outside the old Hilltop Steakhouse have migrated away. But a restaurant – as well as shopping boutiques and residences – may be returning to the Route 1 pasture.”The property is under agreement,” attorney Peter Rossetti Jr., of Saugus, who is representing the Hilltop Steakhouse, said Sunday. “There is an arrangement between the buyers and sellers that, provided certain headways are made, including making inroads on possible zoning and bylaw issues, and assuming that is all satisfactory by the end of year, the deal will be finalized at that point.”In 1961, Frank Giuffrida, who died in 2003, opened the restaurant that became known for thick steaks, long lines and a western motif that included dining rooms named for train or stagecoach stops such as Dodge City, Virginia City, Kansas City and, of course, Sioux City, “population” 392.The Hilltop opened its doors just about a decade after Kowloon and the same year Prince Pizzeria landed on the scene, becoming one of the old guard of restaurants that dominated Route 1.The family sold the restaurant in the late 1980s, but Frank Giuffrida’s name remains on the iconic neon-green cactus sign.In a letter announcing the restaurant’s closing, the management cited changing customer demographics, increased competition and the increased costs associated with maintaining the restaurant.On Oct. 28, Rossetti and developer Ross Hamlin went before the Saugus Board of Selectmen to request that the liquor license associated with the restaurant be renewed, as the property was in the process of being sold.Rossetti said Sunday that an agreement has been made to develop the 14-acre property with a 200-plus-seat, upscale restaurant and some residential and retail development. The proposal, however, is dependent on certain contingencies being met, including zoning changes that must be approved by Town Meeting.Rossetti explained that zoning divides the property roughly in half, with the approximately seven acres within 500 feet of the roadway zoned for commercial development and the remaining acreage zoned as residential.Two developers – whom Rossetti identified as Hamlin Development, a large developer of commercial properties, and residential and mixed-use developer E.A. Fish – are in negotiations to develop the commercial and residential portions, respectively.Rossetti said he had few specific details about the proposal, as he does not represent the developers. But the negotiations about the proposal have revealed a few pieces of information.Rossetti could not confirm what restaurant is proposed for the site but said that two or three “well-known and very popular, Boston-class-type restaurants” that were “meat-oriented” were interested in the property’s liquor license. He said that he imagined the residential units would be multi-family, and envisioned the development as more along the lines of a MarketStreet Lynnfield than the strip-mall and big-box development that currently defines Route 1.”We want to get away from that one-story, big-box development and encourage mixed use,” Saugus Economic Development Coordinator Robert Luongo said, adding that he has been discussing zoning changes with potential developers and owners of several Route 1 properties, and developers are favoring mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly projects. Luongo said he hopes to present proposed zoning changes to a Special Town Meeting at the beginning of next year.”Saugus needs to compete,” Selectman Steve Castinetti said Sunday. “MarketStreet in Lynnfield certainly has taken business from all of the businesses in Saugus, and Saugus needs to be able to step up and compete. Unfortunately, our zoning is not conducive to strong businesses.”Rossetti said he believed developers envisioned a March date to begin work on the commercial aspects of the site, with an anticipated fall 2015 opening.However, all of this is dependent upon contingencies with zoning and other bylaws being met, includi