For students wondering what happened to Jay's Deli, an answer and a very different replacement are at hand.
Stellar Restaurant Group executives are poised to open a Boloco burrito restaurant on Boston Avenue at Jay's former location.
"We serve what we like to call inspired burritos," said Michael Harder, president of the Stellar Restaurant Group, which owns all nine of the Boston Boloco restaurants. "We don't stay focused on the Mexican menu only, we add in all sorts of flavors."
The new business may open as early as October, though possibly in November.
When Jay's Deli closed at the end of last summer, it sold the building, which also housed Gnomon Copy, to Walnut Hill Properties Inc., which purchases properties on Tufts' behalf. While looking for a replacement for Jay's, Walnut Hill considered an Italian eatery and some local restaurants that wanted to move closer to campus, but was sure of one thing: no pizza.
"We tried to find something that wasn't going to compete head on with anything there," Walnut Hill general manager Bruce Ketchen said.
To prepare for Boloco's arrival, Walnut Hill set out to upgrade the building, including Gnomon Copy's space. The building has been boarded off from the sidewalk during construction, though Gnomon Copy remains open for business.
"We're prepping space for a retail tenant to move in," Ketchen said. "It's not uncommon for storefronts like this to go periodic renovations."
The construction began over the summer so that effects on Gnomon Copy's business would be minimal, Ketchen said.
Plans for the restaurant follow the "green" guidelines of the US Green Building Council, called the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
"We've decided to completely use in all aspects of the projects as many...earth-friendly projects as we can," said Adam Liebman, co-founder of Stellar Restaurant Group. In one environmentally friendly step, a bamboo wood paneling product was used on the walls instead of the nonrenewable petroleum-based alternative.
Mark Williams, president of Straight-Up Builders, the construction company contracted by both Walnut Hill and Boloco, expects the last stage of construction to be completed in mid-November.
Not all involved parties, however, are very enthusiastic about the ongoing work.
"It comes at a bad time," Michael Skikane, owner of Gnomon Copy said.
Construction of handicapped-accessible ramps inside Gnomon Copy forced the managers to relocate important machinery, although Skikane said that Walnut Hill has helped staff to make the best use of the space available.
He and his managers had originally expected the construction, which didn't begin until July, to be completed by the start of the academic year.
"They've taken a lot of space from us," ten-year Gnomon Copy manager Eilene Keddy said. "It wasn't supposed to interfere with our beginning of the semester."
Keddy said she has detected a slight drop in business, especially within the community. "A lot of people have been calling and asking if we're open for business," she said.
Williams said that the construction proceeded as planned, but that he expected there to be a few surprises and delays as his crew worked on the structure of the building.
Boloco's menu will list ten types of steak, chicken and tofu burritos. The styles range from "Classic" filled with beans, cheese, salsa and rice, to the "Mediterranean," filled with hummus, feta cheese, salsa, olives, rice cucumber and vinaigrette.
The burritos run $5-6, and the restaurant will also serve smoothies ($3-4).
Ketchen feels that Boloco will be a good fit for Tufts. "I'd like to see everybody at least give it a try," he said.
