scituate

On Monday, as painters were scheduled to restore the red to the former Welch Company building, the president of the building's new owner described the town's response to his company's renovation of the local landmark.

Hamilton Company had known that Scituate residents would be in favor of its plans to restore the building, president Carl Valeri said. What he hadn't anticipated was the enthusiasm of that response, or the number of e-mails of praise that have since flooded his inbox.

"I wouldn't say the response was a surprise, but it was much more than I expected," he said.

Early that same day, Valeri said the company had signed an agreement to rent one of the downstairs corner units to a local restaurant owner. He said an agreement to put a second restaurant in the building's other corner was "imminent."

Valeri wouldn't say who either of the restaurant owners was, only that one was from Scituate and the other was from nearby.

"We're excited about it," he said.

"For the 5,000 to to 6,000 square feet of retail space between the restaurants, Valeri said the Hamilton Company was talking to a number of retailers from Cohasset and Scituate who are interested in opening second locations in the Welch building when repairs finish next spring.

When the Hamilton Company presented its plans for the building to Scituate selectmen recently, company CEO Harold Brown predicted the building would be open in April 2009. The selectmen each praised the company for buying the building and saving it from potentially being turned into a condominium development.

"I don't know of a project that has been more anticipated than this one and I don't know of a project that is more welcome than what we see here," Selectman Joe Norton said.

Some of the selectmen worried that the company would have trouble renovating the building, which has been left to decay for years. They also asked if the use of the building would add to what some see as parking troubles on Front Street.

Valeri said the Hamilton Company plans to restripe the parking lot and believes that it can get 20 to 30 more parking there. As for the renovation of an older building, BRown said not to worry.

"The Hamilton Company has been rehabbing buildings like this for over 50 years," he said.