Southborough Police issued a press release about an arrest made of a man accused of breaking into a vacant commercial building in Southborough. The building is the former Andrea Restaurant that has been vacant for decades.
The site at the corner of Rte 9 West and Parkerville Road had been greenlit in 2023 for development as a luxury car condo facility that has yet to be built.
The release from the SPD states:
On Friday, March 14, 2025, at approx. 2025 hrs, Southborough Police responded to a 911 call reporting a person entering the vacant building located on the corner of Parkerville Rd (North) and Turnpike Road (RT 9 West), formerly known as the “Andrea Restaurant”. The vacant building is currently boarded up and there is a chain link fence surrounding the perimeter of the property. Officers arrived on scene and, after conducting a search of the exterior of the building, located a small section of the exterior wall that had been forcefully removed. The reporting party confirmed that someone had entered the building and was still inside. A K-9 unit from CEMLEC and the Massachusetts State Police were requested to respond to the scene. Upon their arrival, the K-9 Teams entered the building and located a male party inside, later identified as [an Allston, MA resident].1 After conducting an investigation of the scene, Southborough Police charged [the arrested man] with B&E with the Intent to Commit a Felony (Nighttime); Possession of Burglarious Tools; and Vandalism. He was placed into custody and transported back to the Southborough Police Department to be booked and processed.
A job well done by the SPD Officers, MSP K-9, and CEMLEC K-9!
The vacant buildings at 241-245 Turnpike Road have previously been publicly raised as both an eyesore and potential safety issue. Between that and residents’ long stated desire for a business to be developed at the site, it seemed worth looking into the updated status of the planned project.
Back in 2021, a business purchased the abutting properties with the intent to develop the car condo building, marketed as Parkhaus. The owners sought and received approvals required by the Zoning Board of Appeals, Conservation Commission and Planning Board. In May 2024, representatives went back to the Planning Board to request a one year extension of the approved Major Site Plan Approval.
According to Planning’s minutes, the owner needed more time to conduct perk tests for” the sewer disposal system”. The board granted a one year extension.
In the discussion, there was reference to a chain link fence at the site. That indicates the owner had followed through on recommendations made by the District State Building Inspector to mitigate issues that had been raised in complaints about the vacant properties.
Last May, their attorney told the Planning Board that their intent was to begin construction in 2024. But that was contingent on success of the perk tests. The project calls for the demolition of the two current buildings and it doesn’t appear that demolition permits have been pulled yet.2
The business’s website still pitches pre-sales of “bespoke car condos” in the to-be-developed site. But the last social media promotions of the business were in May of 2024.
In 2023, Parkhaus had promoted updated renderings of the envisioned facility:
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
In contrast, below is the Google Maps street view image of the site as of September 2023 (prior to the installation of the fence.)
- The blog policy is to redact names from initial arrest reports. Readers looking for redacted details can find them in the SPD’s release here.
- I tried reaching out to the business this morning to see if they could share an update on the perk test status/results and their plans. I haven’t heard back yet. If I do, I’ll update this post.
