The Meeting Street building that formerly housed Via Via IV is undergoing renovations and will eventually open under the name Cosa Nostra.
The new restaurant — bearing the same name as the Sicilian Mafia — features decorations related to The Godfather movies. The city has authorized construction of a new patio with new tiles and doors, according to a permit posted at the site.
The building is owned by Mario Coletta, president of East Side Enterprises, which owns gas stations and convenience stores across the state, according to the company's website.
Coletta leased the building to Via Via pizza company, which closed earlier this year. Coletta still owns the building.
Coletta was unavailable for comment, but his son-in-law Tom Breckel, who is vice president of operations at East Side Enterprises, said he expected the new pizza place to be "the same type of business" as Via Via.
The University attempted to purchase the property in 2000, hoping to include the land in the footprint of Sydney Frank Hall, which was then being planned. But two years of negotiations proved fruitless, according to a 2006 Herald article.
The LiSci building was completed in 2006. At that time, Via Via employees expressed frustration that construction of the building — about six feet from the restaurant's walls — was cutting into business, according to the article.
