Southington officials approve expansion of Cava Restaurant

By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff

SOUTHINGTON Cava

Restaurant on West Street can expand following town approval, an addition that’ll transfer temporary COVID space into permanent dining areas and storage.

Town planners approved the move unanimously during the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on April 18.

Restaurant owners were represented by Sev Bovino, an engineer with Kratzert, Jones & Associates.

He outlined plans to dismantle a temporary dining area to the south of the main building and rebuild it as an addition to the back of the restaurant with a basement.

To allow for spread out seating during the pandemic, Cava owners put up a tent in 2020.

Later that year they built a 30-by-90-foot temporary building for the cold months.

That temporary building is still being used for seating.

Bovino said the restaurant can’t use the temporary space allowed by state pandemic orders after April 30.

It’s currently sitting on parking lot pavement.

Storage, seating

The restaurant has frequent elaborate decoration dis- plays, rotated for different seasons.

The addition’s basement will allow more storage for those decorations, according to Tony Papahristou, the restaurant manager and son of owner Stavros Papahristou.

The temporary space has served as the restaurant’s wizard room, a Harry Potterthemed display.

Tony Papahristou said when it’s rebuilt as a permanent addition, he’ll keep it as an experience room.

“Right now it’s the Cindarella room,” he said. “It’sa blank slate that we’re able to decorate and keep the things up that people seem to like.”

Moving the temporary building will keep the space available for seating as well as a wine cellar that’ll be more visible to patrons.

In 2017, the restaurant undertook a major expansion with the addition of rooftop dining. Seating was increased by 130, including a 20-seat bar.

The expansion this year will be accompanied by a face lift for the rest of the restaurant including the rooftop dining.

It’s mainly an upgrade for furniture and the restaurant’s aesthetics to keep things fresh.

“Trends have changed since we first added (the rooftop area). We don’t want the place to get old or ever look old,” Tony Papahristou said. “The whole place is going to feel like new again. It’s going to be amazing.”

The restaurant will maintain regular hours during the addition and upgrades.

No plans for additional buildings

Restaurant owners had plans to build a medical office building on land adjacent to Cava’s West Street location. Town planners narrowly approved the special permit to put two buildings on one lot in 2020.

Peter Santago, a Planning and Zoning Commission member, asked about the status of that approval on April 18. “That decision is still out there. What’s to prevent another building from being built on that property?” Santago asked.

Bovino said the restaurant’s one-year approval for that plan has lapsed.

To build another building on the land, restaurant owners would have to apply again for town approval.

The proposed 15,000square-foot medical office building was too small to attract tenants, Bovino said, which was why it was never built.

jbuchanan@record-journal.com

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Twitter: @JBuchananRJ