"She's done so much. It's time to give her her little space in the sun." Nate Yee said that to MassLive in late August. He was explaining why the next restaurant from Bean Restaurant Group carries his grandmother's name. Linda Yee is 88, and Linda's Italian Kitchen is set to open at The Village Commons.
Yee directs operations for the group. He gave MassLive a target of October or early November. That August report gave no hours or full menu, and it remains the most recent public account of the opening this post could find. So for now, Linda's is still on the way.
Once it opens, the Commons will look different in one specific way. Its evening dining will rest more heavily on one local family than ever. Meanwhile the daytime deli-and-market role, which one tenant filled for 37 years, went vacant on New Year's Eve, and the most recent public report on that space dates from January. Both changes are happening in the same building.
Four Restaurants Under One Roof
Linda's will be the family's fourth restaurant inside the Commons. MassLive counts it as their 12th overall, leaving out The Fort's location at The Big E.
| Restaurant | What it serves | Status this fall |
|---|---|---|
| Johnny's Bar and Grille | Bar and grill | On the July 2026 directory |
| IYA Sushi & Noodle Kitchen | Sushi and noodles | On the July 2026 directory |
| Johnny's Tap Room | Taproom | On the July 2026 directory |
| Linda's Italian Kitchen | Italian and Italian American, about 50 seats | Targeting October or early November |
The town's June 2026 list of active business certificates puts Linda's at 11 College St., Unit 2, under Partners Hospitality Group, LLC. The menu concept fills a gap in the family's lineup. Yee told MassLive that Italian food wasn't yet part of their portfolio and that it's popular. He also described the signature detail: "We are going to have homemade pasta that we'll cut in house every day."
A second Italian project is coming after this one. Yee told MassLive that Little Petroni's is planned for University Drive in Amherst in early 2027, serving Neapolitan pizza and Italian American dishes. It's named for a racehorse Johnny Yee once owned.
How One Family Built the Commons' Dinner Hour
The story goes back further than the Commons. Jung Tai "Johnny" Yee opened Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee in 1965, and the family closed it in 2018, according to MassLive.
The South Hadley chapter started in 2006. That year the family bought the former Fedora's Tavern to grow the business. MassLive reported in 2020 that success at Johnny's led them to open IYA and Johnny's Tap Room in the Commons. The first IYA opened in the Village Commons in 2013. Today the brand also has a location in Amherst.
The family runs restaurants here. They don't own the plaza. Mount Holyoke College owns the Commons, and Center Redevelopment Corp. operates it for the college's benefit. The building mixes retail, office and residential space. Over 20 years, the family has built three concepts in one landlord's building, and Linda's will make four. That growth happened one lease at a time, with a tenant already proven in place.
The Slot Still Open
The Commons started 2026 one tenant short. Tailgate Picnic, the deli that sold food and sandwiches along with beer and wine, closed after 37 years, and its last day was New Year's Eve 2025, MassLive reported. Signs at the shop asked passersby to watch for a new tenant. The Daily Hampshire Gazette covered the closing the day before it happened.
Jeffrey Labrecque, president and CEO of Center Redevelopment Corp., gave the numbers in a statement reported by MassLive. For more than 20 years the Commons has run between 95% and 100% occupied, with 97% as a typical average. Losing Tailgate pushed that down to about 93% or 94%. Tailgate's space was the only empty retail space in the building. He said he expected to be back at 95% to 97% by summer 2026. He added that "that's not to say it won't be a challenging year in the local or national commercial market."
In January the management team was interviewing several businesses with deli-market concepts. That January report is the latest public update on the space this post could find, and it named no incoming business.
In the same MassLive report, Labrecque also said his team was about to sign a deal for the former Main Moon Chinese Restaurant space but couldn't name the business yet. Linda's could easily be that tenant, but no public source confirms it. The town's June list records Linda's at Unit 2 and a New Main Moon Cafe at Unit H of 11 College St., so the paper trail doesn't settle the question.
The nearest new daytime opening is outside the Commons. Tandem Bagel Company opened its seventh cafe at 460 Newton Street in late July, in a former bank building. WWLP reported that it's open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch sandwiches, coffee, baked goods and seasonal specials.
Who Else Is on the Directory
The Commons has more than four restaurants. Its July 2026 directory lists these food and drink businesses alongside the Yee family's three:
- Batch Ice Cream
- Food 101 Bar & Bistro
- Kiao Wan Thai Restaurant
- ThirstyMind Coffee and Wine Bar
- South Hadley's Tower Theaters, which shares the complex
Retail on the same directory includes Odyssey Bookshop, Arts Unlimited Gift Gallery, Blessed Bee Apothecary, Citrus Sky Boutique, Dolli's Curated Closet and Eliza Moser Fine Art. That list dates from July. It's the most recent official roster available, but it isn't a guarantee that every business is open on a given evening.
Labrecque's January statement explains why this mix stays put. He said the residential units at the site are always fully occupied. He described the office market as where most commercial property owners struggle, as remote and hybrid work spread after the pandemic. Restaurants and shops in this building sit between apartments that stay full and offices that face pressure. The plaza's long run of high occupancy depends heavily on that storefront ring.
A November Evening Along College Street
The coming weeks have dated events at the Commons and across the street at Mount Holyoke. One of them overlaps with Linda's target window.
- Saturday, October 31, 8 to 9:30 p.m. The Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra's "Monsters Ball * Fairy Tales" at Chapin Auditorium, 1 Woolley Circle, with the general public listed in its audience.
- Wednesday, November 11, 7 p.m. Gabriel Bump in person at Odyssey Bookshop.
- Thursday, November 12, 5 to 7 p.m. "An Evening with Mira Nair," a public lecture with a reception, at Gamble Auditorium, 13 Lower Lake Road.
- Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. Francine Berman in person at Odyssey Bookshop.
On November 12, the Nair reception ends right when the Berman reading begins at the bookshop. If Linda's opens within its October or early November target, it will be serving by that Thursday, a block of College Street with two public events back to back. Tailgate's old space was the one vacancy Labrecque hoped to fill by summer, and his January statement is still the latest public word on it that this post could locate.
Lauren follows changes like these, block by block, across the Pioneer Valley. If you'd like to talk about South Hadley's Village Commons, College Street and what's moving in around them, Lauren Niles is glad to compare notes. Schedule a Personal Consultation.
