The former location of Doyle’s Cafe, a pub once synonymous with Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, hasn’t quite been quiet since its 2019 closure.
After nearly 140 years in business, the famed Irish pub — a local hotspot and favorite in Boston’s political circles — poured its last pint five-and-a-half years ago and sold its liquor license.
The property on the corner of Washington and Williams streets went to a developer, who is constructing a multi-building mixed-used condo complex with space for a restaurant.
This month, the city took a significant step toward returning dining, socializing, and — yes — booze to the former Doyle’s location.
Officials awarded one of the city’s coveted new liquor licenses to the owners of Stoked Pizza Company, who operate pizza restaurants in Brookline, Cambridge and Cohasset. A Jamaica Plain joint at the Doyle’s address, 3484 Washington St., will be their newest location.
Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren, right, lifts a glass of Guinness stout as then-Boston City Councilors Matt O’Malley, left, and Felix Arroyo, center, look on, during a campaign stop at Doyle’s Cafe, in Boston, on Oct. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP
The restaurant has been discussed as a potential tenant at the property for over a year.
Lee Goodman of Watermark Development, owner of the property, confirmed this week that Stoked Pizza would be the building’s new restaurant occupant when it opens.
“We’re about a year out for it to be 100% complete and the restaurant open,” he said.
The owners of Stoked Pizza did not respond to interview requests from MassLive.
Owners Scott Riebling and Toirm Miller began Stoked as a food truck in 2014. The Brookline restaurant opened in April 2016, according to a profile in Eater Boston published in 2019. The Cambridge location came in 2021, followed by the expansion to Cohasset last year, according to NBC Boston.
Doyles ‘a titanic loss’ to Jamaica Plain
When Doyle’s closed, the owners sold the liquor license to a new Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse location in the Seaport. Owner Gerry Burke Jr. told the Boston Globe at the time that Jamaica Plain’s spiking real estate costs played a part in the decision to shutter.
The former location of Doyle’s Cafe in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood will be home to a new restaurant space occupied by Stoked Pizza Company, as well as 16 condos and a small corner store. Pictured is a rendering by Watermark Development.Watermark Development
“It’s very sad,” Burke said. “I grew up here and I’ve had a wonderful childhood. It’s been my identity for as long as I can remember. It’s a terrible thing and I’m as sad as I can be. But the real estate in JP is as high as it’s going to get, and I can’t afford to stay here anymore.”
Watermark Development purchased Doyle’s, an adjacent two-family home on Washington Street, and a Williams Street site for $5.5 million in 2022, according to the Boston Business Journal.
The pub hosted numerous Boston, state and federal politicians over the years, from former U.S. Sens. Edward “Ted” Kennedy and John Kerry to incumbent U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
“Doyle’s played a huge role in shaping our neighborhood (& politics),” then-Boston City Councilor Matt O’Malley tweeted when news spread of the bar’s closure in September 2019. “It was my unofficial district office & the home of more civic associations, groups, & JP orgs than I can list. Titanic loss for the [neighborhood].”
Liquor licenses can be immensely valuable to restaurants and bars — a fact made abundantly clear each time one sells on the open market. Doyle’s sold its license for nearly half a million dollars.
The liquor license awarded to Stoked is one of 37 dolled out by the city earlier this month to locations across 10 neighborhoods.
They were the first batch to be released from a haul of 225 new liquor licenses approved for the city by the state Legislature and Gov. Maura Healey in September. It was the largest increase in Boston’s liquor license stock since the end of Prohibition over 90 years ago, according to the city.
New building, new restaurants
The Jamaica Plain building, dubbed One Gartland for its residential address on the cross street, will also feature 16 condos and a second-floor outdoor dining space also occupied by Stoked. The property will also house a small corner store, Goodman said.
The building will be the third piece of a project the developers have dubbed “At Doyle’s.”
Construction of the other two nearby buildings, at 60 and 69 Williams St., is almost finished, Goodman said.
Together, they contain 13 condos of between two and four bedrooms each. The starting price is in the range of $1.3 million, according to the project website.
Goodman hoped the properties would be filled with new tenants by the summer. At One Gartland, he projected tenants would begin arriving in spring 2026 and that the restaurant would open around the same time.
The starting price of the condos in the building — all between two and four bedrooms — is $1.35 million.
