The Rosebud Diner in Davis Square has been dark since mid-May, and Somerville officials just made clear it isn’t reopening anytime soon. What operator Babu Koganti initially described as a quick floor repair has stretched into a monthslong shutdown tangled up in real estate negotiations and a municipal licensing rebuke, leaving the fate of the 1941 landmark uncertain.
According to the Somerville Times, Koganti in July estimated the situation would be resolved within two to three weeks, but Rosebud Bar and Kitchen remains closed for an indeterminate amount of time. Koganti has said he plans to reopen the restaurant in the near future, though no firm date has been given. The diner sits at 381 Summer Street in Davis Square, a location that has anchored the neighborhood for more than eight decades.
The closure’s early framing has since come under scrutiny. As reported by the Cambridge | Somerville Independent, a spokesperson initially claimed in May that a minor plumbing issue would be fixed within a day, yet the venue remained dark for more than two months before floor repairs and landlord purchase talks were disclosed publicly. Koganti has said the closure was done to have some of the floor re-done, and reporting from May indicated Rosebud was also updating its menu, installing a new HVAC system, and replacing its floors during the same stretch.
A Landlord Deal Still in Limbo
At the center of the delay is a property negotiation between Koganti’s Bindaas Concepts and the building’s owner. Koganti is negotiating to purchase the building from his landlord, and he is currently in legal negotiations over the deal, the Independent reports. The property has been owned since 2013 by 318 Jumbo LLC, an entity managed by restaurateur Martin A. Bloom, who previously founded the Vinny Testa’s restaurant chain and transformed the site from a classic diner into a full-service restaurant after buying it…