After 42 years in operation, The Green Barn restaurant is to close its doors on March 24th and move to another part of the town. This means that the massive former dairy barn situated at 5 Hampstead Road will now be razed to the ground in order to make way for a new 22,000-square foot shopping plaza, according to owner Carl Bohne. A residential home adjacent to the restaurant will also be torn down.
“We plan on reopening in the fall,” Bohne says of the restaurant’s relocation. “We have two possible sites in Salem, but we are not sure which one.” There was unanimous approval for the shopping plaza from the Planning Board last week, says town planning director Ross Moldoff. Several variances for the project have also been granted by The Zoning Board of Adjustment. “We have our permits,” Bohne notes. “Everything was approved.”
While construction on the plaza will commence in April, Bohne says it is too early to identify the two possible new sites that the restaurant may move to. He runs the restaurant with his wife Margaret and they say that they have received numerous phone calls from customers since the plans were announced.
Bohne insists that The Green Barn, which is the oldest restaurant in Salem, will stay open and hopefully not have to move out of Salem. “We are continuing to tell them we will be back as soon as possible,” he says.
Gene Salaz
