Legal Sea Foods May Reopen in 1981

Legal Sea Foods--the popular Cambridge restaurant and market that burned down in January--may reopen in Kendall Square late next year, a company official says.

Marc Berkowitz, vice president of the Boston-area food chain, said yesterday Legal's fish market will reopen within three months just behind its old site in Inman Square.

But he added that plans to open a new restaurant in the Kendall Square redevelopment area are indefinite.

The Inman Square site may eventually also house Legal's company offices, Berkowitz said. The chain is considering several kinds of buildings--including a high rise--but "all that depends on zoning," he said.

Response from the city was warm. "We'd very much like to see the fish market back, and maybe even a small restaurant in Inman Square," David Vickery, assistant city manager, said yesterday.

Turnabout

"Cambridge is now interested in bringing business back into the city," Berkowitz said, adding "It hasn't always been that way." He said one reason for moving to Kendall Square is the lack of parking space in Inman Square--a lack he said the city had been reluctant to fill.

But the city has built two parking lots in Inman Square to accommodate growing businesses, Vickery said. The facilities in the square could support a "small" restaurant, but not a more growing one, he added.

Financial Interest

Another incentive for rebuilding in Kendall Square is financial. Businesses there may be able to reduce the interest on building loans by "three or four percentage points," an official of Boston Properties--the Kendall Square developer--said yesterday.

That's because businesses in the Kendall Square development--designated a "commercial revitalization district"--are eligible for tax-exempt bonds.

"A restaurant like Legal Sea Foods, which would draw people into the area, would be a welcome addition," Vickery said.