Long-vacant 456A Mass. Ave., in 2016 photo, has a tenant.

Bubble Nation opens

Bubble Nation opened Saturday, Feb. 23. Its daily hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

UPDATED, Feb. 15: When Bubble Nation opens in Arlington Center, the public will have two reasons to smile.

The first depends on your taste — a fresh flavor via varieties of bubble tea.

The second has to do with the history of closed storefronts in town. The Select Board approved the food-license request Wednesday, Nov. 14, for Bubble Nation to serve its drinks at 456A Mass. Ave. The vote was 4-0, with Kevin Greeley absent. That location has not been occupied consistently for about five years.

“It’s quite popular these days,” co-owner Kelly Yue, 30, said in an interview, referring to bubble tea, a drink that arose in Taiwan. Read about the varieties >> “People are talking about it. We’re very excited.”

She and her partners aim to open this winter.

Address changed hands in January

Ali Carter, town economic-development coordinator, said that address changed hands from Diane Poulos Harpell to her brother, Theodore, last January. Poulos still owns the building next door, at 448-452 Mass. Ave., with the staggered roof facade.

The last town paperwork showing a previous tenant at 456A Mass. Ave. is a sign permit application for Himalayan Crafts filed Nov. 27, 2013. When the business closed is uncertain. The address was used temporarily by J.J. Phelan for a field project-management office but has been vacant for several months.

Carter’s paperwork to the Select Board says the proposed use is a six- to seven-seat tea shop in a B5 Central Business Zoning District, “an appropriate use for this location and will add to the diverse mix of offerings in Arlington Center.”

Kelly told YourArlington that she and her husband got the idea for a bubble-tea shop two years ago. “We found most bubble-tea shops in Boston are not as tasty as the ones in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where bubble tea originally comes from,” she wrote.

“We decided to make bubble tea for ourselves and friends. Our friends love the taste of our traditional bubble tea and encourage us to open a real business in Boston. It becomes our mission. We hope to bring this healthy and tasty bubble tea to Arlington.”

This will be Bubble Nation’s first location. See the full menu and other details >>

The situation regarding long-closed storefronts has changed since 2014, when YourArlington first documented the issue and then in August 2016, when it followed up. That month, one of the three landlords owning closed storefronts responded to requests for comment about a variety of issues. That was Patricia Simboli of ACS Development, Chelsea.

James Cohen of Marco Realty, Brookline, declined to meet. Diane Poulos Harpell of DPH Realty, of Cambridge, ignored numerous phone messages and a certified letter, which a return receipt shows her office signed for at the time. Earlier this year, a sign from C. Brendan Noonan, a Cambridge realty company, seeking tenants appeared in the window at 456A Mass. Ave.

17 vacancies in ’15 drop to 5

The October 2016 Special Town Meeting adopted the “Registration and Maintenance of Vacant Commercial and Industrial Buildings Bylaw,” aimed at encouraging landlords to fill vacant stores.

The 17 vacancies identified in Arlington Center in June 2015 were reduced to five by September 2017, Carter has reported.

See the current town list of vacancies >>