Downtown Crossing/Filenes

[philip]

Filene?s building site - look to Manhattan for hint of the future
Instead of heading all the way to Las Vegas to discuss the future of the soon-to-be-sold Filene?s building site, Mayor Thomas M. Menino needed only to visit a city 1,500 miles closer, New York City.

There, a building in midtown Manhattan has transformed its neighborhood by bringing to the area a vibrant mix of residents, office workers, and tourists.

According to the New York Times:

The developer, Vornado Realty Trust, one of the nation?s largest owners and managers of commercial real estate, has ?changed a neighborhood that was somewhat of a lackluster market to more of an upscale market,? said Gary Trock, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis and a prominent retail real estate broker.

And, coincidentally, who is in final negotations to buy the Filene?s building site?

Vornado Realty Trust.

And, how did Vornado succeed in Manhattan?

Vornado handpicked the tower?s retail tenants and included the first large national chains to have stores in the neighborhood: Home Depot, the apparel store H&M and the Container Store, which sells storage and organization products.

Vornado also installed two banks, Bank of America and Wachovia, on the Third Avenue side of its skyscraper.

The latest incarnation of the renowned restaurant Le Cirque is in a ground-floor location on the tower?s motor court, an atrium between two connected towers where pedestrians and automobiles can move between 58th and 59th Streets.

But commercial brokers said Vornado did not stop there. The developer also acquired buildings around the Bloomberg Tower to export its retail flavor to an even larger swath of the neighborhood.

?It was a strategy by Vornado to master plan not only the block that the Bloomberg building sits on, but the neighborhood to some degree,? said Josh N. Kuriloff, an executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield. ?They did this with a keen eye toward architecture. They, in my opinion, single-handedly and dramatically increased the value of the neighborhood.?

Thus, Vornado built 715 Lexington Avenue, which is architecturally similar to the Bloomberg Tower and has 23,000 square feet of retail space housing the clothing store New York & Company and Zales Jewelers. Just south of that store on Lexington, a space is being renovated for the cosmetics retailer Sephora.

And, what happened as a result of this?

Other real estate owners and retailers in the neighborhood also upgraded their properties.

So, cross your fingers. We could end up with a great new neighborhood, sometime in the future.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Manhattanization baby!

 

[Ron Newman]

If they want to do the same thing here, they should start by acquiring the soon-to-close Barnes & Noble across the street.

 

[statler]

Makeover for `tired' district
Consultants to study Downtown Crossing

By Keith Reed, Globe Staff | September 8, 2006

City officials yesterday hired a Toronto consulting firm to help them remake Downtown Crossing -- a place Boston's mayor says is ``really tired right now."

The shopping district, which was turned into a pedestrian mall in the 1980s, recently lost two of its biggest retailers, Filene's and Barnes & Noble.

Downtown Crossing ``needs a new brand, some revitalization, some new energy," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who walks the area three times a week among the approximately 100,000 pedestrians the district attracts daily.

Yesterday, the Boston Redevelopment Authority awarded Urban Marketing Collaborative of Toronto a $250,000 contract to come up with a plan for the area, which is east of Boston Common, adjoining the Theater District and the Financial District.

Menino said he wants Downtown Crossing to be attractive for the thousands of people who work downtown, as well as be a destination for residents of the area, which has attracted a spate of condo construction. A supermarket might help the district, the mayor said. But he does not want it to become another tony retail area that tries to mimic the Back Bay.

``You get a blend of different types of shops, but the key is what those stores look like, how they invite you in," he said.

Urban Marketing Collaborative has between six and eight months to make recommendations. They could include anything from new signs to pedestrian improvements to consulting with landlords who are looking to lease vacant second floors and the underground retail space that's connected to the MBTA's Orange Line and Red Line stations.

As part of its assignment, Urban Marketing must have two community meetings with residents, shopkeepers, and landlords.

Maureen Atkinson , a senior partner at Urban Marketing, said the firm's team will have to spend most of September and October on the streets in Downtown Crossing, gathering information. But that work should be done quickly enough for them to avoid interfering with harried Christmas shoppers.

The company competed against three other firms, winning with a 140-page proposal that detailed its other work helping to revitalize retail areas in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Harlem, N.Y., Providence, and other cities.

Last year, Menino put Randi Lathrop, the BRA's deputy director, in charge of sprucing up Downtown Crossing by repairing sidewalks, adding more benches, and installing solar-powered trash compactors, to reduce the frequency of trash trucks rumbling through the area. That effort is still underway, she said yesterday.

In the meantime, the Urban Marketing team will spend much of its time trying to figure out what kind of identity Downtown Crossing should have to succeed, and what kinds of new stores would best fill the vacancies.

Grocery stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have been successful in downtowns, though neither has been approached about Downtown Crossing, Atkinson said.

Underground, service businesses such as a dry cleaner, shoe repair shop, or a stand that sells lottery tickets might work, she said --but only if done with care.

``If you don't have a discipline that requires your retailers to reach certain standards, then it is definitely `ick,' " she said. ``But if you have a high standard of cleanliness levels, of what they put back into those areas, then it adds something of value."

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.

Link

 

[Ron Newman]

In the 1970s I vaguely recall a whole line of businesses, including a bank branch, underground in Downtown Crossing station.

 

[statler]

Grocery stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have been successful in downtowns, though neither has been approached about Downtown Crossing, Atkinson said.

I think either of these would be a great fit for the area. I wonder if they would fit in the Barnes and Nobel space?

 

[Ron Newman]

A two-story grocery store is difficult, as you need a way to get shopping carts from one floor to another. (Moving a Target into the 6 floors of Filene's presents a similar problem.)

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

A two-story grocery store is difficult, as you need a way to get shopping carts from one floor to another. (Moving a Target into the 6 floors of Filene's presents a similar problem.)

Shopping cart escelators. We have them at the Home Depot and the Whole Foods here in Manhattan. They are pretty ingenious really.

 

[Coyote137]

A two-story grocery store is difficult, as you need a way to get shopping carts from one floor to another. (Moving a Target into the 6 floors of Filene's presents a similar problem.)

Shopping cart escelators. We have them at the Home Depot and the Whole Foods here in Manhattan. They are pretty ingenious really.

Also at the new IKEA in Stoughton. Don't take up much space at all.

 

[Roxxma]

The Target in Nashua, N.H. has a shopping cart escalator as well.

 

[Ron Newman]

Even though tomorrow is the official day for all remaining Filene's to become Macy's, the first-floor-only downtown Filene's will remain open until December. At least that's what an employee there told me this evening.