Harwich Port Fall 2026: Village Landing's Off-Season Outlook

One Saturday in early August, people walking along Route 28 in Harwich Port kept stopping to talk to Dennis Miller about the building he had just finished at 575 Route 28. "It's beautiful," the Cape Cod Chronicle reported, was the remark he heard most often. That was summer, with a full sidewalk, a new ice cream line and a 100-seat restaurant about a week from opening.

The harder test is the one coming now. Harwich Port Village Landing was built and opened in high season, so everything residents know about it so far comes from summer. Its tenants are new to Route 28, its restaurant opened under a seasonal liquor license, and its upstairs apartments are short-term rentals. Between Columbus Day and the first weekend of December, the block will show what it is when the strip goes quiet.

What Opened at 575 Route 28

Village Landing has four commercial units on the ground floor and five short-term rental apartments on the second. By August, three of the commercial units and all of the apartments were rented. Miller told the Chronicle that every tenant in the commercial units lives in Harwich, and that a 1,000-square-foot unit on the west side was still unrented.

The ground-floor tenants who opened this summer:

• Style & Sea Boutique, a women's clothing store owned by Nicole Applebaum, in the center of the building. "It's a dream come true," she told the Chronicle after her first few weeks.
• Charlie's Ice Cream Sandwich, owned by Chad Murphy, which sells freshly baked cookies with a choice of Gifford's ice cream. Its line was steady from the start.
• Three Harbors Coastal Kitchen, which fills most of the east side of the first floor. It has seating on a patio beside the sidewalk and a fire pit at the east end of the building.

The site also connects to its neighbors. There are 53 parking spaces around the building, and the complex is tied into the units at 571 Route 28, which hold a barber shop and other businesses. Details Inc., a home decor and interior design company, is at 573 Route 28, and more parking for the complex is at 569. Miller told the paper he owns 10 properties along the village's 400 yards running west from Bank Street. As a result, much of Harwich Port's central stretch now shares one owner.

A Seasonal License and an Open Schedule

Three Harbors is the business to watch this fall, because a restaurant usually sets a block's hours after dark. It is owned by Frank Wiacek Jr. and his wife Lauren, who also own Milano's Italian Kitchen in West Harwich. Frank Wiacek Sr. called the menu "eclectic" and built around local products, with homemade pasta and lobster hushpuppies.

Two facts point in different directions. The Chronicle reported that the restaurant was granted a seasonal liquor license. Three Harbors' own website still reads "WE ARE OPEN!" and lists dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends, with weekend lunch and Sunday brunch specials. No closing date is posted. The new kitchen has not yet said publicly how far into the fall it will run.

The same is true of the rest of the building. No public source gives fall hours or a closing date for Style & Sea or Charlie's. The upstairs apartments offer the clearest clue. Miller said New England Vacation Rentals, which manages them, was already taking bookings for Thanksgiving weekend by early August. So at least some guests plan to be staying above Route 28 in late November.

The Neighbors With Year-Round Hours

The older businesses along the strip have already published their plans, and they set the standard the new block will be measured against.

Brax Landing says plainly on its website that it is "OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK ALL YEAR." Its hours run from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, with the bar open later each night. Hot Stove Saloon, at 551 Route 28, a few doors from Village Landing, lists "Open 7 Days: 11:30AM - CLOSING." It does not say whether those hours continue through winter.

Cape Sea Grille has the most precise schedule. Its website lists reservations for "Summer/Fall 2026," with dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. After Columbus Day Weekend, it closes on Sundays. Columbus Day falls on October 12 this year, so Sunday, October 11, is the last Sunday dinner the restaurant has posted. No final closing date is listed.

That gives the strip a clear order for the weeks ahead. Brax Landing has committed to the whole year. Hot Stove has posted daily hours. Cape Sea Grille has posted a reduced fall schedule, starting the week after the holiday weekend. Village Landing has posted summer-style hours and nothing beyond them.

October 28, Door by Door

The first community event to use the whole length of the strip this fall shows which doors are open. The second annual Halloween Parade, presented by the Harwich Chamber of Commerce and the Harwich Elementary PTO, takes place on Wednesday, October 28, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The Chamber describes the route this way:

Parade begins at the Harwich Chamber of Commerce and will travel down one side of Rt 28 Sidewalks in Harwich Port and then on the other side - South to Bank. Businesses that are open along this route will greet our little goblins outside in front of their doors.

Children must be with a parent or guardian, and the Chamber asks families to arrive no earlier than 3:45 p.m. to line up. The route passes the stretch where Village Landing, Hot Stove Saloon and Miller's other properties stand. On a Wednesday afternoon in late October, the businesses greeting families outside will be the ones still open. This will be the block's first Halloween.

The Calendar Between Now and the Holidays

The other dates this fall give the strip a reason to stay open.

The Fall Showcase, run by the Chamber and the Health Department, brings preparedness exhibitors, the Cape Cod Healthcare Blood Mobile, food trucks, The Detours and a car and motorcycle show to the Community Center.

The Toast has the most direct link to the village's restaurants. The Chamber has moved it to a new location, the Wychmere Harbor Room. The invitation, revised September 30, lists member restaurants alongside local craft beers and wines, live auctioneer John Terrio, a silent auction and the Boston Premiere Band. The Toast is on November 20. The Thanksgiving rental bookings at Village Landing reported in August cover the following weekend. Two weeks after that, Christmas in Harwich runs December 4 through 6. Together, these dates give a new Route 28 business clear reasons to stay open well past Columbus Day.

The Walk Toward Wychmere

One more change on the strip is still unsettled. MassDOT's project 611985 adds a sidewalk with curb ramps and crosswalks along the south side of Route 28, from Bank Street to the Saquatucket Harbor parking lot. It also includes a pedestrian bridge over the culvert near Wychmere Harbor Drive. The bid price was $2,572,850, and construction started in autumn 2024.

The state's project page reports the construction contract as 100 percent complete. Its status note, dated April 17, 2026, still describes Algar Construction installing the bridge barrier, Verizon moving utilities, and periodic lane restrictions. MassDOT has published no update since then, so the public record does not show whether the full walk is open this fall. When it is finished, it will give pedestrians a continuous south-side walk from Bank Street, past the Wychmere Harbor Drive culvert, to the Saquatucket Harbor parking lot.

At Paul Grover, we follow how a Harwich Port block like 575 Route 28 settles into village life over seasons, not just over one summer opening. If you own property along this stretch and want to talk through what the new block means for it, start a confidential conversation.