Back Bay forced to sell Rayz as Fla. claims eminent domain

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 1, 1993

STUART, Fla. -- The Back Bay Restaurant Group, based in Boston, will be shuttering its Rayz Riverside Cafe restaurant here because of the widening of a bridge located near the restaurant.

The State of Florida Department of Transportation has filed a Declaration of Taking seeking to appropriate the restaurant by eminent domain. Back Bay believes that the restaurant should be valued significantly higher than the department's estimate -- and is negotiating with the department regarding the extent, timing and value of the taking.

Back Bay chairman Charles F. Sarkis said he understands Florida's need to expand the bridge, adding that in the future Back Bay will expand closer to home, in the Boston-Washington, D.C. corridor. Back Bay operates 24 full-service Northern Italian and American-style restaurants in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New York.