Rita's Ice formerly in the Downtown Somerville Shopping Center will open its new home on West Main

Date AddedJuly 05, 2009 09:25:31 PM

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"We always said, "Man, if we could get on to Main Street, that would be perfect,"' said Stephen Zampella, who also owns another Rita's franchise in Bridgewater with his wife, Doris.
The Rita's formerly occupied a free-standing building between the former Pathmark and other stores in the now vacant shopping center between West Main Street and Veterans Memorial Drive.
Operating as JazMaz Enterprises, the Zampellas bought the property in March 2007 from Fortress of Ice but soon clashed with the center's owner and redeveloper, JSM at Somerville, eventually filing suit against the company in May.
Unlike the shopping center building designed to service walk-up clientele, the location at 54 W. Main St. will have a seating area for customers that Zampella said will be better in inclement weather and potentially allow the shop to stay open year-round. The space was formerly occupied by What's in the Icebox.
"The nice thing about that location was that it's almost the dead center of town, and for the Friday night car show, you're it," Zampella said. Among concerts and other events, vintage vehicles pack the borough's downtown on Friday nights in the summer as part of Cruize Nights organized by the Classic Cruizers Car Club.
Zampella said he also hopes the Rita's will be a dessert option for patrons of the borough's many restaurants.
"If you can't get something to eat in Somerville, you're in trouble," Zampella said.
Zampella said attending his daughter's lacrosse and soccer games at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School and watching parents and others make trips to Rita's sparked his and his wife's interest in the franchise. The couple's son, Michael, also works with them.
According to the lawsuit, a representative of JSM assured Mrs. Zampella the business could remain open during construction before she and her husband bought the franchise. Zampella was also told JSM would be agreeable to lowering the rent and that the Rita's would have a guaranteed spot in the redeveloped property.
JSM eventually proposed raising the rent and exercised its option to not extend the store's lease, even though a five-year renewal on the lease was part of the sale from the previous owner, according to the suit. Despite continuing to pay rent, JazMaz could not get access to the building to open for the 2008 season because JSM had fenced in the site.