For about four years, the most visible empty building in Newton Centre was the stone depot at 70 Union Street, next to the Green Line stop. It isn't empty anymore. Lockheart, a Southwestern-style restaurant whose first location opened in Wellesley in 2022, now fills the station. Wicked Local reported on September 30 that the building "has come back to life after four years of vacancy."
With the depot lit, the piece of the square that still has no long-term answer is a few steps away: the plaza built on 24 parking spaces in the Langley Lot. The City's trial for that arrangement was set to be reevaluated by October 31, 2026, two days after this post goes up.
A depot that has held a counter for most of the last two decades
The building has been through more tenants than most people walking past might guess. According to a 2010 City of Newton land use report, the station was designed by the firm of Henry Hobbs Richardson and built in 1896. It is listed on the National Register and is one of three surviving depots out of the twelve the firm designed for the Boston and Albany Railroad.
Here is how the room has been used, as far as City records and local reporting show:
| Period | Tenant at 70 Union Street | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 | Starbucks | Sublet the building until shortly before the 2010 petition |
| 2010 onward | Deluxe Station Diner | City approved a 90-seat restaurant, 8–0 |
| 2020 to 2022 | Jamie's on Union | Replaced the diner under the same ownership, closed in 2022 |
| 2022 to 2026 | Vacant | Nearly four years dark |
| Late September 2026 | Lockheart | Open by September 30 |
The Deluxe Station Diner came from Don and Daryl Levy, who had run the Deluxe Town Diner on Mount Auburn Street in Watertown for ten years before they petitioned the City. Fig City News reported in June that the MBTA sold the building in 2012 and that it changed hands again in 2025.
Fig City's permit review found that interior work started in early 2024, two years into the vacancy. It included a demolition permit that January, a roughly $1.2 million restaurant fit-out that March, and a fire-protection system acceptance test in June 2026, which is typically one of the last steps before opening.
What 70 Union Street serves now, and how late
The plans described in that same Fig City report call for 86 indoor seats and a seasonal patio. At the City's licensing hearing, the applicants agreed to close the patio by 10 p.m. At that hearing, the restaurant's attorney called it a family-oriented American bistro with a Southwestern flair and an affordable menu. Co-owner Mark Hicklin told Wicked Local, "Lockheart is, I'd like to say, a place for everybody. We want people to feel comfortable walking in the door."
The current menu is built around snacks, tacos, bowls and salads, and larger plates. Dishes include street corn, sheet-pan nachos, short-rib birria tacos and veggie enchiladas.
Lockheart's Newton page lists these hours:
- Sunday through Thursday: 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 4 p.m. to midnight
- Kitchen: closes nightly at 10 p.m.
- Weekend brunch: listed as coming soon
That late-night window matters more in Newton than it would in many places. In August 2026, Fig City News counted restaurant hours across the city in its dining roundup. It found 175 places open at 1 p.m. on a Friday, 83 still open at 9 p.m., and only 35 by 10 p.m. On a Friday, a room right next to a Green Line stop that stays open until midnight is serving in a stretch of the evening when most of the city's dining rooms have already closed. Its kitchen keeps the same 10 p.m. cutoff as many of them.
The storefronts that changed hands around it
The depot is the biggest change on the square this year, but it isn't the only one. Several other Newton Centre spaces have new tenants in 2026, each in a room that someone else gave up. Fig City's August roundup lists them:
- Formosa Bun & Dumpling Factory, 740A Beacon Street, held its grand opening on March 28. Owner Kristina Pan's pan-fried bao buns first won a following at Newton's Taiwan Day festival.
- Tea22, 212 Sumner Street, opened softly in June in the space Pon de Joy left. It pours Thai tea and Thai coffee alongside bubble teas and slushes.
- Something Sweet, 1280 Centre Street, Suite 8, opened this summer upstairs above Rosenfeld Bagel. It sells nostalgic and Swedish candies and chocolates and hosts birthday parties.
- Tess, a clothing boutique, now occupies 91 Union Street, where the chocolate and pastry shop Sweet Dream used to be.
- House of Noodles – Star Foods is the name now on 19 Pelham Street, which was previously listed as Star Foods.
Across Newton, Fig City counted 187 places to eat as of August 2026, and 62 percent of them were independently owned. Lauren Berman, Newton's Director of Economic Development, told the outlet that when a space opens up, other restaurateurs are usually eager to move in. She credited village centers, which give restaurants a walkable base of residents and daytime workers.
That pattern explains why the depot stood out. Smaller Newton Centre storefronts have generally been refilled within months. The station took four years and a full interior rebuild. With that done, the empty-building question on Union Street is settled.
The 24 parking spaces still on trial
What remains open is the Newton Centre Pilot Plaza. According to the City's plaza page, it sits on 24 parking spaces in the Langley Lot. It is not a closed street.
The parking math is more specific than the usual argument about it. Before the plaza, 16 spaces in the Langley Lot weren't open to the public. Twelve were employee-only, two were Zipcar spaces and two held a Bluebikes station. The City moved those to other spots:
- Employee-only parking went to Centre Street.
- The Zipcar spaces went to Lyman Street.
- The Bluebikes station went to Herrick Road.
Because those 16 spaces opened up to the public, the City puts the net loss of parking in the lot at 8 spaces. The page also points drivers to municipal lots on Cypress, Pelham and Pleasant streets, plus 60 street spaces newly open to the public around the village.
At a March 12, 2025 open house, residents asked for flexible and accessible seating, shade, kid-friendly features, greenery and art, and basics like trash disposal. The City has also waived the Outdoor Special Event Permit application fee for events held in the plaza. Hosts still pay for any extra services, such as police details.
The plaza's future is now a formal agenda item. The Traffic Council agenda for October 22, 2026 included item TC59-25, a request to extend the trial of the Langley Road Triangle Municipal Parking Lot, plaza included, "to be reevaluated by October 31, 2026." The Council had held that item 5–0 on November 20, 2025, for a long-term trial. Anyone who wants to follow what comes next can track the Traffic Council's agendas and the City's plaza page.
Where the square's December calendar stands
The plaza has already hosted at least one holiday event. The City's page shows carolers there during the Newton Centre Holiday Shop & Stroll on December 4, 2025. The Newton Beacon reported that 29 businesses took part in last year's stroll. This year's date hasn't been announced. Whatever the City decides about the Langley Lot will determine whether that event has the same open-air space to use in December.
Closer at hand, the Friends of the Newton Free Library hold their annual book sale on Saturday, November 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the library's Druker Auditorium.
Newton Centre has a 130-year-old depot that's open again and a parking-lot plaza still being tested, and both affect how the square looks to buyers. If you own near Union Street or Langley Road and want to know how changes like these show up in your home's value, Colleen Kelly Homes can walk through it with you. Schedule a free strategy call.
