The empty building that thousands of travelers on 28 see when they come off the Hyannis Rotary has become a bit of eyesore in recent years. But despite its decrepit condition, it’s still a piece of Cape Cod history.
While all would rather see a bustling joint serving up steak, sides and salads, the former Mitchell’s Steak and Rib House is another one of these businesses of yesteryear which dot the Cape’s landscape, triggering many a happy memory for many, but standing vacant for decades at a time.
The land on which this former legend sits was part of the Enoch Cobb Trust, a nonprofit dating back to the 1870s which owns a few pieces of land in the areas surrounding the Barnstable Municipal Airport.
It was unfortunate, then, that the trust had a small part in the restaurant’s downfall. For many years, the trust’s terms of ownership were hazy at best, and this lack of delineation eventually led to some conflict between municipal and trust ownership of certain lands.
The troubles morphed into a legal dispute between the Mitchell family and the trust, a problem which dragged on from the 80s until the Mitchell family defaulted on their lease in 2006.
The building had fallen into disrepair and was closed permanently that year.
Like other former legends on Cape Cod, the structure sat there, rugged and increasingly sore on the eyes, until a developer bought it in 2014.
It still just sits there, but now it could be developed into… anything. The current owner, Stuart Bornstein, has not yet proposed any solid plans for what he’d like it to become, although he did say that he does not aim to build big.
At least the $1.8 million sale of the land, which included the next door VFW Post, benefitted the town. The money went directly to assist Barnstable schoolchildren, as per the Enoch Cobb Trust’s agreement.
But whether this legendary Cape Cod building will still be there in another ten years, or if it will be fixed up and reused, remains to be seen.
By CapeCod.com Staff
