The owners of Worcester's shuttered O'Connor's Restaurant & Bar are facing a new lawsuit from a mortgage lender, which alleges they owe $82,000 in city taxes and have not done enough to find a buyer for the long-closed Irish pub.
The lawsuit, reported Monday by the Worcester Telegram, targets the owners of the now-closed restaurant at 1160 West Boylston Street. According to the Telegram's reporting, the mortgage lender alleges the owners owe the city tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes and have been slow to attract a new buyer for the property.
O'Connor's has sat empty since March 7, when burst pipes damaged the building, according to CBS Boston. The restaurant briefly reopened on May 1, 2025, after a stretch when it was limited to large parties and private functions, the Telegram reported at the time. But the pipe damage, paired with rising business costs, ultimately proved too much. “After our recent pipe burst and with rising business costs, O'Connor's will not be reopening its doors,” the restaurant said, per the same CBS Boston report.
Asking Price Dropped as Interest Lagged
Owner Dennis Maxwell told the outlet that the asking price for the property had fallen sharply since the closure. “Instead of $4 million, it's down to a price of $2.8 million,” Maxwell said. He added that the restaurant already had two interested buyers at the time, though the current status of those discussions is not known.
Dennis and Jennifer Maxwell, along with their son Kyle, bought the restaurant business in 2022 from original owners Brendan and Claire O'Connor, the station's report notes. The O'Connors had opened the restaurant decades earlier and ran it for years before deciding to sell.
A Nearly 40-Year West Boylston Street Fixture
O'Connor's traces its roots back to April 4, 1989, when it debuted as a modest 75-seat operation with a cozy bar, according to the restaurant's own history on its website. The business grew into a well-known Worcester gathering spot long before the Maxwells took over the operation, and the deal that brought the Maxwells on board was expected to close in early August, with financial terms undisclosed, according to the Worcester Business Journal.
That same outlet reported in 2022 that the O'Connors had originally purchased the property for $325,000, while the city had assessed it at $1.2 million at the time.
How Worcester Tax Debt Gets Verified
The City of Worcester has its own mechanism for confirming exactly how much tax is owed on a given property. A Certificate of Municipal Lien, or CML, is the official document that spells out a property's tax liability, according to the City of Worcester. Residents can request one either through the city's online payment partner or by submitting a CML Request Form directly to the Treasurer and Collector's Office.
The lawsuit's specific allegations regarding the $82,000 figure and the claim that the owners aren't doing enough to attract a buyer remain as reported by the Telegram; the underlying court filing itself was not available for independent review. What happens next for the shuttered West Boylston Street building, and whether a buyer ultimately steps forward, remains to be seen.
