A Worcester man has been selected as the new owner of the Edgemere Diner, pending the awarding of the lease by selectmen next month.

Town Manager Daniel J. Morgado yesterday said David Kupstas, an Auburn native who lives off Lake Avenue in Worcester, is eager to get the vacant diner up and running again.

“I’m pleased to see that we have a proprietor who seems to be well-suited for the project. He’s very enthusiastic and has financial backing. It will be great to see that property back in productive use,” Mr. Morgado said.

Mr. Morgado said his bid was one of three received for the diner. Mr. Kupstas has agreed to purchase the diner for $5,000 and rent the Route 20 property on which it is located for 20 years. The monthly rent will be $1,500 and will escalate annually with the consumer price index. Mr. Morgado said Mr. Kupstas is scheduled to appear before the Board of Selectmen on Nov. 19 to request a common victualler’s license and for the awarding of the lease.

“I’m very excited. I think it’s going to be very interesting,” Mr. Kupstas said in a telephone interview last night.

A 1991 graduate of Auburn High School, Mr. Kupstas previously worked as a financial adviser, including seven years for Fidelity Investments. Before that, he worked in the food industry as general manager for Panera Bread and assistant manager for Host Marriott.

Mr. Kupstas said he comes from a long line of lovers of food and cooking.

“I just have a passion for food and cooking. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and the diner is going to be kind of a family-type thing,” he said.

Mr. Kupstas said his parents, Robert and Maryann Kupstas of Auburn, are excellent cooks. They plan to help out in the diner along with Mr. Kupstas’ brother Christopher, also of Auburn.

Mr. Kupstas said as a child he ate at the Edgemere Diner, but it was so long ago that he doesn’t even remember if he liked the food. He, his wife, Paula, and their children, Kayla, 8, and Nicholas, 4, live off Lake Ave. in Worcester, less than two miles from the closed diner. Mr. Kupstas said when he drove past the diner, he saw the sign outside soliciting bids to purchase it.

The town has been trying for months to sell the vacant classic-looking 1940s-era diner car at the southern end of Flint Pond and to lease the land. Only one person responded to an April legal advertisement in the Telegram & Gazette, but that person later changed her mind. The asking price at the time was a minimum of $1 to purchase the diner and $2,000 a month to lease the 20,000-square-foot lot for 20 years.

Selectmen in August increased the sale price of the diner, but reduced the monthly rent. The previous plan would have also forbidden the new tenant from removing the diner car from the property for six months, unless the tenant paid $12,000 for the six months up front.

Selectmen in August changed the terms to the increased sale price, reduced rent and required that the diner remain on site for the entire 20-year lease.

The New Jersey-based Fodero Dining Car Co. built the diner in the 1940s. It was moved from the Boston area to Shrewsbury in 1954.

The town took control of the diner in 1995 from former owner Constantinos M. Ganias of Worcester, who owed the town about $31,000 in real estate taxes. It was leased to various diner enterprises until about two years ago, when the most recent lease expired. Previous leases were about $1,400 a month. Selectmen decided against offering another three-year lease, and instead received approval from town meeting and the state Legislature to lease the site for 20 years.

Originally published online here: http://www.telegram.com/article/20071025/NEWS/710250691/1008/NEWS02