South Boston, MA The Cannonball Café, designed and operated by chef Rachel Lazar, celebrated its grand opening with more than 50 friends and neighbors at 383 Dorchester Ave.

“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” said Dave Pogorelc, founder and chief executive officer of Core Investments, Inc., which owns the property.

The opening marks an important early step in the transition of the area west of Dorchester Ave. to a new mixed-use neighborhood called “On the Dot”, which is being developed by Core Investments. Core hired Lazar, who has 10 years of experience in the food industry and is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, specializing in the culinary arts, as manager of the Cannonball Café.

The café, more than a year in planning, is in a repurposed building located near Grand Ten Distilling and between the workout studios CrossFit Southie and Peter Welch’s Gym.

The new café features coffees, teas, smoothies, items baked in house, sandwiches and salads, and a variety of other locally produced breakfast, lunch, and snack items, for dining in or to-go. Cannonball Café is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m., and has about 20 seats.

Core Investments has been planning “On the Dot” for a decade, along with nearby Washington Village, a five-acre mixed-use development that began construction this month. Core Investments is planning the neighborhood as a mixed-use district, consistent with the BPDA and City of Boston’s “PLAN: South Boston Dorchester Avenue Planning Initiative” and other city guidelines.