Another Harvard Square Restaurant Shutters Ahead of Construction Project

After 32 years in business, a restaurant with an iconic patio in Harvard Square will close its doors ahead of a massive construction project planned for the area. Au Bon Pain officially bids farewell to the Square on Thursday, according to the Harvard Crimson's blog, Flyby, which posted a photo of a sign in the restaurant's door announcing the news.

Part of the sign read: "thank you for 32 great years" and invited customers to visit other locations in the area. "We continue to search for a future location in the area," the sign went on. Forbes Plaza, the public space outside Au Bon Pain, is often filled with lunchtime crowds, chess players, and tourists.

Au Bon Pain adds to the list of other closures in the area that have come at the hands of a construction project planned for the Smith Campus Center. Thursday is also Clover's last day in its Holyoke Street location before it relocates to the former Yenching space at 1326 Massachusetts Ave. Oggi Gourmet will relocate to 30 Dunster St., and B.Good closed its Dunster Street location for good yesterday, also announcing plans to try to find a nearby location.

Construction on the campus center development project begins Monday with an estimated completion date in fall 2018. The plans could include a glass pavilion on Forbes Plaza, as The Boston Globe reported last August.

Update 3/30 9:30 a.m.: This post has been updated to include details on the campus center construction from Harvard's public affairs department.