Like a scene out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the Pseudoikonomou family crowded behind the counter at Cappy’s Pizza in Fenway on Wednesday, video cameras in hand and smiles flashing.
It was a big day for the eclectic family as they chatted in Greek, their nearly 15 voices filling the medium-sized eatery.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and other city officials came to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly rebuilt structure the pizza place calls home at 90 Westland Ave.
The building features 20 new housing units in an area suffering a housing shortage. On the street level, the building will house a convenience store, laundromat and the new home of Cappy’s Pizza, where the ceremony was held.
Cappy’s Pizza owner Nikolaos Pseudoikonomou was ecstatic as he thanked everyone in his thick Greek accent, from family members to banks to architects to the entire community for putting up with the construction.
City Councilor Michael Ross (Fenway, Back Bay) and Boston Redevelopment Authority Director Mark Maloney also attended the ceremony. All expressed their gratitude for community cooperation throughout construction and celebrated inside Cappy’s new home.
“This is an American dream kind of project,” Maloney said. “And today that dream has become a reality.”
The current residents of the new building are mostly young professionals, but some affordable housing will be available as well, Ross said.
Because of “a new requirement recently passed in Boston,” he said, “10 to 15 percent of all new housing must be affordable.”
Despite being surrounded by many area colleges, the housing is intended for older, working individuals, Ross said.
“This community is looking for stability right now,” Ross said, particularly after the recent riots following the Super Bowl.
The previous building only had four housing units and was plagued by plumbing and ground water sanitation problems.
Pseudoikonomou began talking to Boston officials about rebuilding the old structure while the Fenway area had been suffering a tight housing crunch.
The Cappy’s Pizza owner began the rebuilding where he and his family had run the business for more than 20 years. With help from the BRA and loans from Middlesex Savings Bank, Pseudoikonomou was not only able to expand his restaurant, but he was able to help residents of the neighborhood as well, his son Demitrios said.
Demitrios added that the key to the long process was patience.
“This has been my father’s dream for about 25 years,” he said. “It’s amazing to see it finally coming true.”
Nikolaos and his wife, Sophie, moved to America from Greece in the 1970s and have owned Cappy’s Pizza since.
The ceremony concluded with a tour of the new housing development, which still has units available. Cappy’s Pizza will reopen early next week.