Regatta site developer pressing ahead with construction despite setbacks

The line between a dream and a nightmare can be razor thin sometimes, Peter Cabral admitted.

Still, his plans to build a restaurant and banquet hall overlooking Mount Hope Bay remain on the dream side despite almost a year of setbacks to get the former Regatta site into shape.

We hope, in the next two weeks, to get this buttoned up, he said Sunday at the site. Once we close this up, we can really move. We can really start to get some work done. Im looking at an opening date of Memorial Day right now.

On a sunny winter day the draw of the site is obvious. Cabral and his architects, William Starck Architect Inc., of 126 Cove St., redesigned the western and southern walls, opening them up and adding three dozen windows.

The water sparkled. The Battleship Massachusetts loomed large, as did the Braga Bridge. Even without electric lighting, the room was bright enough for sunglasses.

It would be hard to find a better view anywhere nearby, Newport included.

The plans call for a waterfront bar and a dining room that will seat 275. A deck overlooking the water will be open in good weather. A banquet room will seat an additional 200. The building, once 12,000 square feet, was expanded by 2,000 square feet to provide amenities for the boaters who rent the 44 slips at the site. There will also be a 400 foot dock for transient boaters.

With the old building, there was about 4 feet of windows on the back and no view, Cabral said, looking out at the water and shaking his head. We are going to make the most of this view.

Cabral, who was part of the team that started the Taphouse on South Main Street, took over the site a year ago and began demolition.

Permitting took longer than expected and environmental inspectors had to be assured, every step of the way, that the work and the restaurant would not harm Mount Hope Bay, Cabral said.

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Regatta site developer pressing ahead with construction despite setbacks