Downtown restaurant owner seeks to re-open Newbury Street inn

254 Newbury St.: Center building, between Fairfield and Gloucester.

Surinder Singh, owner of Mantra on Temple Place, is looking to re-open a bankrupt inn at 254 Newbury St.

Singh went before the Boston Licensing Board for permission to sell beer and wine to guests staying in one of the six suites workers are already renovating in the building. The board decides tomorrow whether to grant the license, which would also allow beer and wine service in a patio behind the building.

The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay actually approves the proposal, subject to final negotiations on some changes to the building the previous owner made that detract from the building's historic nature, association representative James Hill told the licensing board. Singh agreed to limit alcohol sales to guests and will not install any loudspeakers on the patio, his lawyer, Arthur Goldberg, said.