A drive-thru location that once delivered crispy fried chicken and hot mashed potatoes might soon be replaced by cash withdrawals and late-night deposits if the long-vacant former Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Frontenac Street in Mattapan is finally turned over to a new bank tenant.
Several sources have told the Reporter that a new banking tenant was looking into leasing the property in the wake of KFC/Yum Brands’s decision to finally relinquish their lease.
State Rep. Russell Holmes this week confirmed that the blighted property is being proposed as a new branch location for a well-known local bank. “I have been trying to get a bank in that location for 10 years,” he said. “I’ve talked with the City of Boston Credit Union and Eastern Bank previously, but they weren’t interested. Now we have a bank that wants to go there. It is looking very positive that we will have a very reputable bank in that location” as an “anchor for that intersection.”
The KFC was opened more than a decade ago against the wishes of the community, and it immediately began losing money. Not long after opening, the business failed, and the company closed up shop suddenly. The kicker has been that Yum Brands has retained their lease for more than 10 years and left the property blighted and vacant, a thorn in the side of the Mattapan community and a situation often referenced over the years at community meetings.
Property owner Frank Williams Jr. was not immediately available for comment, but Holmes said that in talks with Williams Jr., the landlord was happy to have a new tenant that the community could embrace.
“As I understand it, we’ve come to a place where [KFC and the property owner] have been able to work things out,” Holmes said.
Fatima Ali-Salaam, president of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC), said it is good news, but there are questions that need to be asked. She said she’s been told that the entity is Citizens Bank and that they will be before the GMNC at a July 28 committee meeting.
“It’s unfortunate that KFC left in the middle of the night and it’s unfortunate that property has sat vacant for so long with no other use,” she said. “We don’t need any fast food because we have every type of fast food and liquor store in walking distance. We do need retail things like a bank – but not just an ATM. We need full-service, fully staffed banking accessibility there.”
She said some of the questions that have come up are what will happen to the Citizens Bank location in Mattapan Square, and how Citizens plans to reinvest in the Frontenac area, which she said has been left in terrible shape by the vacant building and never-ending state construction projects.
The property consists of three parcels, one on Blue Hill Avenue and two on Frontenac Street.
