Diner museum holds out more hope for Edgemere
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Despite the outward appearance of the diner, beaten and bowed from the elements, the booths and stools inside the structure remain in serviceable condition.

Shrewsbury - The plight of the beleaguered Edgemere Diner received a shot in the arm recently when a representative of the American Diner Museum of Providence asked Town Manager Dan Morgado about the landmark.

"The museum could assist in finding a new home for the diner or a new lease for the land it's on," said Greg Anderson, a volunteer for the American Diner Museum. "We've rescued many diners over the years from being demolished."

One case in point, Anderson said, was the Fall River diner the museum recently helped relocate in Oakley, Utah, a small town of 928 residents located in the north-central part of the state. That diner, built in 1939, had been earmarked for demolition.

While the Edgemere isn't facing an impending doom as dire as what the Fall River establishment faced before being moved, the diner, located at 51 Hartford Turnpike (Route 20), has fallen into disrepair, having not had an active tenant in more than two years.

Morgado has been seeking a new tenant for the diner for several months, but a recent bid process - that asked for a minimum bid of $1 for the diner and $2,000 a month for the first year of the land lease - produced just one bidder, and that bidder failed to include the $5,000 bid bond that the town required as part of the bidding process.

The town of Shrewsbury had hoped to sign a 20-year lease on the diner and the land by June 29. Anyone who had signed the lease would have been able to sell or demolish the diner after six months. The town isn't interested in selling the land because there is a water pump located on the site, which measures 20,787 square feet.

Morgado said he isn't interested in selling the diner separate from the land right now. He remains hopeful someone interested in restoring the luster of the landmark, named for the part of town in which it's situated, can be located.

"To me it's just a matter of finding the person who's interested in investing the time and resources necessary to make the Edgemere Diner the hustling, bustling must-stop restaurant it used to be," Morgado said. "I think that person is out there, we just have to keep looking for them."

To that end, Morgado said the town will re-examine the original bid process and he will urge the Board of Selectmen to re-open the bid process in the near future.

Anderson said the Edgemere Diner was built in the 1940s by the Fodero Dining Car Company of Bloomfield, N.J. Despite the outward appearance of the diner, beaten and bowed from the elements, Morgado said the booths and stools inside the structure remain in serviceable condition.