Concord Monitor from Concord, New Hampshire • 27

o) Lo)ysnDDGSS sL Concord Monitor Tuesday December 27 1 988 E) Section '7 I4 i -1 '-p (- 1988 Buon Appetito From the brick shell of what used to be Anthron'i gourmet food (hop hangs a new aign Ristorante Italiano" Inside the wills are fresh pink and everything else is under construction billed by its owners as Concord's "authentic whi restaurant is scheduled to open in the first week of January Doug Milbunr the owner of Cheers Restaurant and Randy Jones its did are partners in the new venture Both are from Concord originally There is no Mr Vercelli in the back room Vercelli is a town in northern Italy Jones who described himself as percent on his mother's side said he plucked Vercelli from Kalian literature at home when it came time to name the restaurant a nice town one we hope to Jones said liked the sound of the They went Italian with the restaurant because they thought Concord needed one Milbury said trade publications say hottest trend right now is Italian food" And Jones has wide experience preparing it as a chef at gourmet Italian restaurants in Houston before coming to Cheers Jones -who will be the chef at Vercelli's said that Italian food is "ready something been around but hasn't been -For those who want to explore Jones and Milbury have planned seating for 49 people a medium priced menu and a takeout deli service Pssta prices start at $U5 for Fettuccine Marmara Entrees of chicken fish veal and steak run from $1095 for Polio Tettrazini which Is chicken in cream sauce with mushrooms and prosciutto to $1450 for Costolette Griglia a grilled veal chop To fulfill the mission of authenticity aU the dishes will be Italian many from the North Jones said and all the sauces will be homemade Milbury said will be like going to the North Ena of Stories' From 4 V'- i V' 'Jit-f tijOf "1 4 rfVs 4 A Selling space in the Masonic Lodge been a hard climb for Northeast A Tale Of Two Condos companies and offices Cooper-Stevens unfortunately went McGowan agreed Sometime after last year's stock market crash the call for luxury homes fat Concord withered But his condos were almost finished we miscalculate the market? It'S not that easy to assess What really he said "was the market To encourage more offers McGowan has lowered prices In September he cut the cost of the smallest or the two-bedroom units from $295JK)0 to $239000 Earlier this month he discounted the largest from 1320000 to $259000 He has resigned himself to selling aU of them at a loss he said Northeast's condos came into the market later The firm bought the Masonic Lodge in July for $515000 and promptly (pent another $150000 replacing the courtyard with 20 parking spaces In August Aries Engineering Inc which now has offices in Capitol Plaza bought the top floor At about the same time the united Way rented space to house its expanding staff Both organizations can move in when the building is finished thip spring Gross Gather Vound for a tale of two of Concord's beautiful historic buildings -both of which went condo but with different results It has been the best of times for the Masonic Lodge the sprawling Main Street hall being converted to commercial condominiums But town at the 125-year-oid Cooper-Stevens Estate it has been oneof the worst More than a year after workers put the finishing touches on the Warner St -mansion developer Duncan McGowan has yet to sell any of its four condominiums each originally priced at about $300000 Meanwhile Northeast Community Development's derision to buy the long- vacant lodge five months ago is already paying oft Though on-going renovation makes the buikling look like a bomb site one unit has already sold for $400000 and another leased Looking back the developers of both projects say they now see wny their fortunes diverged "We looked around Concord and saw a lot of law firms and other companies adtfing employees They needed room to expand" explained David Gross of Northeast Peter White of Franklin Area Community Land Trust Taking On Largest Bank In September three area groups tried to block the merger of the state's largest bank holding company and the Bank of Ireland claiming the deal would drain money out of the country at the expense of New Hampshire communities Now three months after they filed a protest with the Federal Reserve Board in Boston the protesters have lost their case but not their voice The reserve board approved the Bank of Ireland's $370 million purchase of First Bank of New Hampshire Inc in November citing the foreign pledge to obey American laws that require local loans Unconvinced activists have bombarded the reserve board with angry requests to reconsider See FIRST NH Page D-2 Matthew Thornton Accepts A Suitor Healthsource Inc the Concord-based health maintenance organisation is feeling a little low Ever since its chief competitor Matthew Thornton Health Plan let it be known that It was seekhu a suitor Healthsource had considered Itself a prime choice: But last week Matthew Thornton spumed Healthsource for another Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center we're said Tracey Turner Healthsource's spokesperson "One of the things we specialize in is turning around financially troubled health Having lost $4-5 million in the last two years Matthew Thornton the state's largest health plan has its share of financial problems But the Nashua-based company chose Hitchcock over both Healthsource and Harvard Community Health Plan of Cambridge Mass "There were other reasons besides said Lorraine Bauman a spokesperson for Matthew Thornton For one thing the company already has a working relationship with the Hitchcock Centers doctors refer our members to the center's clinics in Bedford Manchester and Bauman sakL "That was an important Healthsource is saddened that Matthew Thornton passed up a "a good Turner said Both health plans called HMOs -contract with doctors and hospitals to treat to their subscribers But the 150 doctors associated with Matthew Thornton work in clinics where patients are treated for almost all their medical needs Turner described it as a sort of "one-stop-shopping center for health Healthsource's 000 doctors arc independent practitioners who offer more specialized services she said By affiliating "the companies could have offered the best of she explained She disclose the price Healthsource offered for the match issue is over" she laid Community Development "We aimed for Stories by NEAL SHULTZ Improving On Suds Appeal When Victor Racicot started fixing up the crumbling laundromat on Washington Street some people predicted the business wouldn't succeed unless he got rid of the mental health clients who lived upstairs Racicot maintained that most of hia inherited tenants wouldn't bother customers and were free to stay But four months lister five of six including all five mental health clients have left In September Racicot evicted one women See WASHING PageD-2 Phil Erickson Steve Schiff Cindy Williams and Bill Seward are Channel 21's 6 pm news team Good Evening Anyone Listening? handful of people" But Matt James Channel 21's news director insists that he isn't I don't care if we have 250 people watching he said "The only thing I'm interested in right now is putting out the best product we To soup up that product the owner Thomas liatley of Boston has spent freely After reaching $1 million in May the price for the news department has climbed to $2 33 million James Bad Apples Spoil This Batch A New England tradition is enjoying a comeback at Gould Hill Orchards Contoocook The orchard is selling hard cider for the first time and visitors nave been snatching it up Erick Leadbeater the owner of he orchards calls the cider "a popular He's not sure how much he's sold but there are only seven cases left Another batch of the hard stuff will be ready in January Leadbeater came up with the idea after a particularly bad hail storm two years ago Hail-damaged apples can be sold for only a few cents a pound we needed a better way to recoup our he said He remembered that there was always a barrel of cider fermenting when he was growing up on the form So ne began experimenting to find a recipe After trying several different kinds of yeast and apples and holding a couple of neighborhood tasting parties Leadbeater was ready to unleash the beverage on the 66D6T81 public The cider is light and hiity dry he Mid and has "less than half the calories of wine" It also has about half the alcohol percent The cider is part of a new company called Apple Mountain Cider started by Leadbeater and partner Bill Damour They plan to keep the business smafi Leadbeater said We don't aspire to be another Bartles A For Ron Pulera the year's high point occurred on Memorial Day when Concord's Channel 21 (WNim aired ita very first story about the holiday's parades The story was the climax of Pulera's hell-for-leather scramble to build a news department from scratch in no more than four months Never mind that static drowned out some of the band music "The real story was that we hired forty people purchased aU new equipment and put on a damn good news program with a speed that others said was impossible" said Pulera the station's general manager Now in ha Uth month as an affiliate of CBS the-atatkm bees an equally difficult task convindi more people to tune in In last month's television ratings Channel 21 was mauled by Manchester's Channel 9 -51000 households to 2000 households in the intrastate battle for the 9 pm news audience times as many folk watched them last year when they were airing Star Trek" said Tom Bonnar operations manager for Channel 9 "TheyVe got a fine little news show But they've got to be real disappointed that it reaches only The station has added weekend news shows more reporters and a bureau in Nashua The graphic and soundnackages have been improved (no more staticjJVuLan outpost in Portsmouth should hakftlnWin stories by next month ratings front Pulera has fought an exasperating battle with cable television stations that are blocking the station's statewide penetration In Keene for example Cheshire Cable Compaiqr wont cany Channel 21 because it See CflAWEZil Page D-1 More wash arrives on Washington Street.