Wayland Town Center's Skating Rink Is Pushed to Next Winter. Here's What's Actually Open This Season.

"We thought we could execute this winter and move really quickly. We are not going to be able to do that." Jesse Baerkahn of Graffito SP said this to the Planning Board on October 7, according to the Wayland Post's transcript of the meeting. He was talking about the ice-skating rink planned for the green space at Wayland Town Center. Lighting and public safety still had to be worked out with the town. He said the owners and the Eliza J. Norton Foundation had agreed to wait a year.

The rink was the most wintry piece of a plan the owners previewed to the Select Board on June 29. At the time, work was supposed to start in October and wrap up by April. Baerkahn described most visits to the 150,000-square-foot center as "purpose-based." The point of the plan was to change that mix so the place would "feel like a town center." The rink delay is one of several schedule changes since then, so this winter the overhaul itself won't draw anyone to Town Center. The draw is the businesses and programs that were already there before the new owners bought the property last November.

What Moved to 2027

In a September 28 Patch report, the Town Center team said it hoped to get approvals soon and introduce the site improvements in 2027. The Planning Board closed the permit hearing 4–0 on October 7. It authorized the chair to work with the town planner to finalize and sign the written decision. So the plan has passed a procedural step. That is not the same as construction.

Here is where each piece stood in mid-October:

The dog park has had a harder road than the rink. The Wayland Post's July meeting recaps placed it on Parcel B, a triangular piece of land west of the Wayland Commons condominiums. The owners' insurer had liability concerns about contracting directly with a volunteer group. One idea was a lease arrangement through the town's Recreation Department. Select Board member Tom Fay suggested putting out an RFP for a nonprofit operator instead. At the October 7 meeting, Baerkahn called the parcel difficult because of its existing trees and grading. He confirmed that the team still intends to put the dog park there.

The rink is in experienced hands, even with the delay. The Norton Foundation lists helping fund Belmont's new Viglirolo Skating Rink among its projects. Closer to home, it installed four dugouts at the Cochituate ball fields. Board members also noted that the 2008 master special permit has no provision for lighting a skating area. Because winter dusk comes early, they discussed a condition that would send any seasonal rink lighting to the appropriate town departments for approval.

The New Storefronts Run on the Same Clock

The tenant list is on a similar schedule. Three leases were announced in late September. Opening dates are set for none of them, or they fall next year:

• Revival Kitchen & Cafe with The Guild for Human Services at 43 Andrew Ave. The storefront has been vacant for more than a decade. The café will open early each day and serve scratch-made food and coffee. According to Patch, it will also offer jobs to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are supported by The Guild. No opening date has been announced.
• New City Microcreamery is moving from Sudbury into the former Takara space in spring 2027. The Wayland Post reports that the larger space will let it expand its food offerings. Its owners also run Rail Trail Flatbread.
• Mathnasium is going into the former Supercuts space as an after-school math tutoring center.

Those three are close to the "café, bookstore, and ice cream shop" Baerkahn floated in June as the kind of tenants he was courting. Two out of three made it, but the café has no date and the ice cream doesn't arrive until spring.

The one new dining spot that could open this year is just outside the plaza. Town House Café & Bistro is renovating the historic former Town Hall at 21 Cochituate Road for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea and dinner. WhatNow reported in August that owner Kirstyn Lipson was aiming for late November to early December. The café's own site still says "Coming Fall 2026" and gives no specific day. The target already moved once. A January report had it opening "this summer."

The String Lights Over Elissa Avenue Are Older Than the Plan

The October 7 hearing also got into the string lights that zigzag over Elissa Avenue. Baerkahn told the board they were installed before his group bought the site, that "a lot of members in the community" had told the owners they like them, and that the owners would like formal approval to keep them. Town staff noted the lights have been up for at least five years. The fire department has had concerns about anything that could get in the way of a ladder, and one row next to an apartment was already taken down for that reason. Board members discussed making fire department sign-off a condition.

The lights fit the pattern of this season. The new owners want to keep something the plaza already has, and the things that make Town Center worth a stop through December are mostly already open.

35 Andrew Avenue Carries the Calendar

Arts Wayland's gallery at 35 Andrew Avenue shows local artists, runs classes and hosts talks, receptions and open mics. Through the end of the year it has the steadiest schedule at Town Center. Several of its programs repeat on a fixed day of the month. Here are the upcoming dates on the Arts Wayland calendar:

1. Art Circle, Thursday, November 5, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
2. Rocking Recovery, Saturday, November 7, 4 to 6 p.m.
3. Music Exchange Listening Room, Tuesday, November 10, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., repeating on the second Tuesday
4. Café des Francophiles, Saturday, November 14, 4 p.m.
5. Songwriter's Woodshed, Monday, November 16, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
6. Java for Gents, Thursday, November 19, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., repeating on the third Thursday
7. Art Circle, Thursday, December 3, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
8. Music Exchange Listening Room, Tuesday, December 8, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
9. Songwriter's Woodshed, Tuesday, December 15, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
10. Java for Gents, Thursday, December 17, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

The existing shops are also doing seasonal menus. A Patch roundup from October 14 lists Chocolate Therapy's fall truffles, including apple pie, sweet potato, New England maple and dark chocolate ginger. The shop is also serving pumpkin ice cream, a chocolate affogato and its "real hot chocolate." At The Local, the fall menu includes an $18.95 turkey-and-stuffing wrap with cranberry and gravy, warm cornbread with cinnamon-honey butter and braised short rib. Spark Salon advertised a fall discount on cuts and blow-dry styling with stylist Caeley. Patch also notes that trail users can park in designated spaces at the center and pick up the stone-dust stretch of the Mass Central Rail Trail right next to it. That surface works for walkers and hybrid bikes.

Russell's, Terrain and the Museum Fill In the Rest

The owners said in June that they want to work with Russell's and Terrain, since both sit along the Rail Trail. They also planned for Town Center to take part in Russell's 150th anniversary. Until the plaza's own improvements arrive, Russell's Garden Center on Route 20 has the area's busiest late-fall calendar:

• Russell's 17th annual Ladies' Night Out is Thursday, November 5, from 4 to 8 p.m. It includes the Christmas shop, the tropical greenhouse, decorating tips, planting demos, tastings and live music. The evening overlaps with Arts Wayland's Art Circle at 7 p.m.
• Cousins Maine Lobster brings its truck to the Route 20 front lot at noon on Tuesday, November 17, and Tuesday, December 15.
• The Wayland Farmers' Market Thanksgiving edition is Sunday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is held outdoors in the back lot, rain or shine, and the listing asks for pantry donations.

Terrain opened August 26 at 297 Boston Post Road, in the former Whole Foods building. Its restaurant page lists brunch and dinner hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Check those before heading over on a holiday week.

A short drive up Cochituate Road, the Wayland Museum at 12 Cochituate Road holds its free Halloween Dog Paw-rade on Saturday, October 31, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. It hosts a family sports video-game event on Saturday, November 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. Its Holiday Open House is listed as a save-the-date for Sunday, December 6.

The rink, the pedestrian-only Elissa Avenue and the ice cream shop are all scheduled around 2027. Through this December, Town Center's draws are the shops already open, the second-Tuesday listening room at 35 Andrew Avenue and the Rail Trail parking spaces next to it.

If you're following how Town Center's plans could shape your corner of Wayland over the next year, Taylor Yates keeps track of these changes in town. Request a complimentary concierge consultation, and we'll walk you through what the timeline means for your home and your plans.