Once A Famous Swampscott Restaurant, Now Blighted

SWAMPSCOTT, MA —Before Anthony Athanas closed the General Glover House in the late 1990s, it claimed to be one of the busiest restaurants in New England. This week, the town of Swampscott declared the former restaurant's building a "blighted or unsafe structure."

The family of Athanas, who died in 2005 and whose restaurants included Anthony's Pier 4 in Boston, still owns the property. The town's ruling means the family have to clean up the property. But town officials are also considering a potential redevelopment of the building in Vinnin Square, according to the Daily Item, which first reported this story.

"It was quintessential New England, Swampscott and Marblehead," Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told the newspaper. "Our challenge for this generation is what’s next? How do we replicate a little bit of that magic and create a sense of that special place that many people continue to have a fond memory of?"