Longtime restauranteur building ‘greatest entrance’ to Boston’s North End

Frank DePasquale’s life mission has always been to share his authentic Italian heritage with the Boston community, especially the neighborhood in which he spent practically his whole life.

“There’s no neighborhood like this,” DePasquale told MassLive about the North End. “I’ve traveled all over the United States and all over Italy, and it’s so hard to emulate a neighborhood that is like the North End. It’s great, and it could only be made better, and that’s my mission.”

DePasquale’s latest mission is to transform the North End’s rather dull entrance into an Italian cultural epicenter — one that accurately portrays everything good the neighborhood has to offer while filling gaps that currently exist in the North End’s business climate.

He plans on taking the abandoned space on Cross Street between Hanover and Salem streets and transforming it into a multi-purpose building featuring a culinary school, travel agency and coffee shop, as well as several retail stores for jewelry, clothing and shoes.

“The project will be the greatest entrance to a neighborhood that really deserves it,” DePasquale said. “It’s my time to give back to this neighborhood that gave me so much.”

DePasquale spent his early years growing up in a small town under Mount Vesuvius near the Amalfi Coast in Italy. At 4 years old, he and his family moved to Somerville, then to Cambridge, before ending up in the North End.

DePasquale opened his first North End restaurant in 1987 and now oversees several other staples under his hospitality group, including Trattoria Il Panino, Bricco Ristorante, Assaggio, Quattro, Aqua Pazza and Mare Oyster Bar.

In addition to the nearly dozen restaurants and food shops in the North End, DePasquale has started more than 30 businesses along the East Coast that all have promoted the Italian lifestyle.

After completing his last concept, Umbria, and its accompanying rooftop deck, Mia, in 2023, the seasoned restaurateur had the opportunity to purchase the entire block on Cross Street between Hanover and Salem streets. DePasquale said he didn’t want the abandoned property “going into strange hands,” so he decided to take it on as his next project.

“I approached my wife, my son and my daughter, and I said, ‘I can’t let this place go,’” he recalled. “It’s the whole frontage of the whole North End. And I said, ‘I have to do it. I have to buy it.’”

DePasquale’s goal is to have the space emulate the Italian neighborhoods that he has visited throughout the Northeast, as well as Italy itself. The first component will be a “beautiful piazza” with tables and umbrellas where people can grab a seat and relax, DePasquale said.

He added “the neighborhood will absolutely love” taking classes at the culinary school, for which DePasquale teamed up with an Italian-based company to run.

The restaurateur also enlisted the help of a travel agency in Rome that will help coordinate people’s Italian visits and vacations. Additionally, the new building will house a coffee shop, jewelry store as well as clothing and shoe stores for men, women and children.

“So I’m excited about all that,” DePasquale said.

Separate from this building, the restaurateur is also working to build a historical museum that will tell the roughly 400-year history of the North End. This is also something the neighborhood has not had before, DePasquale said.

According to the North End Historical Society’s website, the organization has wanted to establish a historical museum since its inception in 2011. To make that dream a reality, DePasquale purchased a property at 3 Prince St. that he later started renting to the society for $1 a month.

Aside from funding that project, DePasquale is also paying for the entire North End revamp himself, although he does not yet know exactly how much it will cost. That’s how passionately DePasquale feels about beautifying his beloved neighborhood.

“It’s my turn to step up and help this neighborhood in every way that I can. It’s been very good to me, and I want to be very good to them,” he said. “All these people that work so hard for the last 400 years to build this neighborhood, they need to leave a legacy of all the hard work that their family members have done to bring it to the level that it is today.”

Construction on the entrance project started this summer, and DePasquale is hoping to finish it by next summer to align with the arrival of the 2026 World Cup, which will host games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. He said it will be a prime opportunity to help draw more visitors to the North End as they cheer on their teams at neighborhood coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and bars.

“I love this neighborhood, and so do the other 100 businesses, 200 businesses that are in this neighborhood. I think we all love it,” DePasquale said. “We help each other, and that’s the beauty of this neighborhood, that we’re so caring for each other.”