Hangar Pub and Grill owner seeks approval for new signs, changed entrance at Amherst Brewing Company

AMHERST — A few months after the owner of the Hangar Pub and Grill took over operations of Amherst Brewing Co. at the Newmarket Center shopping complex, new signs indicating the Hangar’s presence at the 10 University Drive site could be installed.

Hangar owner Harold Tramazzo said Wednesday that he intends to run a business known as the Hangar from the Amherst Brewing site, but he would not speculate about whether this will mean closing the 55 University Drive location where the restaurant was founded in 1999.

“I can’t speak to that,” Tramazzo said.

He added that he wants to make sure customers enjoy the new space before making a decision to close or convert the existing Hangar, which shares its building with the Hospice Shop of the Fisher Home.

The Zoning Board of Appeals, which in March approved a change in ownership of Amherst Brewing that included no major adjustments to its operation, will consider two requests from Tramazzo at a 7:30 p.m. meeting Thursday in the First Floor Meeting Room at Town Hall.

One request would replace the existing exterior Amherst Brewing signs with signs for the Hangar Pub & Grill, both on the building and on a pylon next to the street.

The other request is to create a new main entrance to the restaurant through the patio area, with the current entrance converted for use only by people using the banquet facility and an area reserved for other private functions.

The changes will improve the customer experience and reduce the size of the restaurant customers can access, according to Tramazzo.

“The idea is to make it into three intimate spaces that are more comfortable to people,” Tramazzo said.

Tramazzo recently submitted a letter and plans outlining these changes to the town’s Planning Department. In a letter addressed to Senior Planner Jeffrey Bagg, Tramazzo wrote: “The bar area and the area currently referred to as the pool room will be the new home of The Hangar Pub and Grill.”

The space the Hangar will use is twice as large as its existing site and about the same size as the Hangar in Westfield. The entire Amherst Brewing space is 20,000 square feet.

Elements of Amherst Brewing will remain visible inside the new Hangar, including a brewery creating new and old styles of microbrews. The menu will also combine the brewery fare with the hallmarks of the Hangar, including chicken wings.

“The entire space will be used for the same functions that are allowed under the current special permit. It is a brewery, pub and function space,” Tramazzo wrote in his letter to Bagg.

Meanwhile, Tramazzo said he is still working on plans to open a third Hangar location in Greenfield, at the former Lunt Silversmith on Federal Street.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.