Beantown Taqueria plans to close its storefront at 245 Massachusetts Avenue by the end of October as an eviction case over unpaid rent proceeds in Cambridge District Court. General manager Hugo Mendez is looking for another place to serve the students who made the $2-taco late-night spot a neighborhood fixture, The Tech reported.
MIT first told Beantown in February 2025 that it would need to vacate for construction of a loading dock, ramps, an elevator, and other ADA-compliance upgrades, according to The Tech. Beantown announced its closing in May 2025, but the project fell behind schedule, allowing the restaurant to stay open for another year before work began in summer 2026, the outlet reported.
MIT Investment Management Company is suing Beantown Taqueria in Cambridge District Court, claiming the restaurant failed to leave by the June 30 deadline. Public records obtained by The Tech show the company says Beantown rents month to month and owes $7,452.88 in unpaid rent and related charges. Commercial landlords in Massachusetts must bring eviction cases as summary process proceedings in district or superior court because the state's Housing Courts do not have jurisdiction over non-residential leases, according to Landager.
Commercial Eviction Case Heads to Jury Trial
Defendant and property tenant Fawwaz Mohammed Aburubayah has requested a jury trial, now scheduled for November 5 at Cambridge District Court, per the same account from The Tech. Unlike many residential leases, commercial agreements frequently contain jury-waiver clauses, but when no such waiver exists, Rule 8 of the Uniform Summary Process Rules and Article 15 of the Massachusetts Constitution preserve a commercial tenant's right to demand one, according to Mass.gov. Aburubayah's lawyers and representatives, along with MITIMCo, did not respond to The Tech's requests for comment.
Aburubayah had hoped MIT would help the business relocate, but the university said it had no available spaces to offer, The Tech reported. MITIMCo, created in 2004 as MIT's dedicated division for managing the university's endowment and real estate, works with commercial broker GraffitoSP to oversee and reposition retail properties along Massachusetts Avenue and Kendall Square, according to GraffitoSP.
Nowhere Affordable Left Near Campus
Mendez would prefer to remain near MIT, but the asking rent for one nearby storefront underscores the cost of finding a replacement. He asked about the vacant space at Albany Street and Massachusetts Avenue that previously housed Oath Pizza and was quoted $20,000 a month—more than twice what Beantown did in sales in a year, he said, according to The Tech. The outlet calculated that rent alone would require about $2 million in annual sales to equal 10% of revenue.
The Central Square Business Improvement District said in January 2025 that ground-floor commercial vacancy along the corridor had fallen below 2%; it also said a dozen businesses were expected to open between the end of 2024 and mid-2025, according to CK Communications Group. That figure describes the corridor covered by the BID, not necessarily the storefront options available to Beantown.
Vacancy Data and Rent Assistance
A separate snapshot offers a different measure of the surrounding market: The Harvard Crimson reported that Cambridge data counted 19 vacant Central Square storefronts in November 2024, nine of which had been vacant for more than two years. That is a neighborhood count, not a vacancy rate for Beantown’s block. The City of Cambridge says its New Lease Rent Relief Grant offered up to $25,000 toward qualifying ground-floor commercial rent incurred since January 1, 2023. The city listed existing businesses renewing a lease in an existing Cambridge commercial space as ineligible, and the program description does not establish whether Beantown qualifies, according to the City of Cambridge.
A Food Truck Could Keep Tacos on Mass Ave
Mendez is not ruling out continuing to operate without a storefront. He hopes a private property owner will let Beantown park a food truck in a lot near MIT's campus and has said the truck could serve the restaurant's full menu, The Tech reported. MIT already runs a food truck program bringing vendors to the Kendall/MIT open space for lunch every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the outlet.
Cambridge allows food-truck vending on private property, according to the City of Cambridge Community Development Department. Beantown has not secured a new location as of The Tech's reporting, and currently has no concrete plans to return after the closure.
Students Mourn a Late-Night Fixture
Opened in 2012, Beantown Taqueria became more than a quick meal stop — The Tech describes it as a place where community members gathered to socialize, and Mendez has said he feels blessed to have known generations of students who frequented the shop. He added that he learned a lot from serving the MIT community and hopes Beantown can eventually return to keep building memories there.
Students and alumni reacted to news of the closure with sadness and anger, according to The Tech's survey of the MIT community, with many respondents saying they visited Beantown at least once a week, drawn by its $2 taco deals and late hours. Sam Gordon described the restaurant as a staple of late-night food for students working on problem sets, the outlet reported. Beantown is running special deals throughout October, including all-day $2 tacos on Taco Tuesdays, before the storefront closes for good.
MIT community members pointed to a broader decline in affordable late-night food options outside dining halls, particularly those that accept TechCASH, the flexible-spending program that lets students and staff use their ID cards as debit cards at participating off-campus merchants, per the MIT Division of Student Life. Michelle Su said the southern side of Massachusetts Avenue is losing its charm and suggested student organizations lean more on catering from local restaurants for campus events, according to The Tech.
A Corridor in Transition
Beantown's departure is not an isolated event along that stretch of Mass Ave. Cambridge Pizza, located directly next door, permanently closed in June 2026 after the same renovation push affected the shared commercial strip, according to Open in Cambridge, leaving a noticeable gap in low-cost late-night dining on that side of campus.
The losses echo a wider pattern of long-running, budget-friendly student haunts disappearing from the Harvard and MIT area. Hoodline previously reported that Charlie's Kitchen, a 75-year-old Harvard Square landmark, faced closure and equipment liquidation in September amid insurance disputes tied to flood damage. Meanwhile, MIT's institutional footprint on the corridor keeps expanding — the university completed its redevelopment of the historic Metropolitan Storage Warehouse into the new headquarters for its School of Architecture and Planning in August. As newer, higher-rent venues like Vitality Bowls, which joined the TechCASH program in 2023, reshape the dining landscape near campus, longtime budget spots like Beantown are finding it increasingly difficult to hold their ground.
