The shingled Kennebec avenue bungalow housing the noted Oak Bluffs eatery Red Cat Kitchen was sold this week for $690,000.
The seller is Thomas Ward. The buyer is GJ & BP Holdings, a state-registered LLC listing Chilmark resident and Los Angeles record producer Gary Jones as its principal. Oak Bluffs selectman Brian Packish is also a partner in the transaction.
The sale went through Nov. 1.
Mr. Packish said on the phone Friday that he has worked with Mr. Jones in the past and saw the sale as an opportunity for both the restaurant, and the town.
“We [he and Mr. Jones] have a friendship and a business partnership and in this particular deal we saw an opportunity to help stabilize and get a long-term home in place for the Red Cat, because it is such an important institution in our downtown and the food is amazing,” Mr. Packish said. “That was a really high priority for us.”
Island chef, restaurateur and Red Cat business owner Ben DeForest expressed excitement about the transaction.
“We’re excited to move forward with new landlords who have a new vision for the property,” Mr. DeForest said Friday. “I don’t know motivations or intricacies or any of the details of the sale. I just know we are looking forward to a long relationship with Gary and Brian.”
Mr. Packish said the opportunity arose to buy the building about a month ago. Despite the short turnaround, he said the condition of the building and significance of the restaurant made the transaction a priority.
“We were looking at a building that was in really, really poor shape and we felt there was an opportunity to do a project there,” Mr. Packish said. “We think that Kennebec is a great little street and we figured that giving that building, or a new building, the appropriate amount of love to make it architecturally fit with the area would be a win for everyone.”
While Mr. Packish could not discuss any of the proposed changes for the space, he said the goal was to ensure the space could continue to house the restaurant long into the future.
“The only thing we know for a fact is that the Red Cat will exist on the first floor of that restaurant and that it will provide a long-term home for the restaurant,” Mr. Packish said.
The building at 14 Kennebec avenue on a .5-acre parcel, dates to 1858, according to town assessors records. In 2011 Anna Ward and Dunstan Smith opened the Ken N’ Beck restaurant in the space, formerly Zapotec. Mr. DeForest ran the Red Cat in West Tisbury from 1995 to 1999. When he moved into the Kennebec avenue building in 2012, he renamed it Red Cat Kitchen.
“When we got into that building there was something that really reminded me of that space in West Tisbury,” Mr. DeForest said. “That’s how that evolved. We didn’t know we’d be reopening the Red Cat Kitchen.”
The Ken N’ Beck sign still hangs out front.
One street over on Circuit avenue, Mr. DeForest also owns the recently-renovated Cardboard Box and Oyster Bar restaurants. Although Red Cat Kitchen will close for the season sometime this December, Mr. DeForest said he plans to cook at the Cardboard Box through the winter.
Meanwhile, he said Red Cat Kitchen endures.
“The restaurant will there for decades to come,” Mr. DeForest said.
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