Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

[singbat]

Brattle book shop did a nice external browse set up in the empty lot next door, at least on weekends. not that the lot was a good idea in itself.

kz, the lot is just to the right of your shot of the brattle, right? is it still empty?

The empty lot next to the Brattle book shop was an old building that housed the Brattle Book Shop after it moved from Brattle Street in Scollay Sq. George Gloss, the proprietor (now it's run by his son, Ken) had a priceless collection of books, etc. and they all went up in smoke. (I think arson was the cause.) The entire building burned sometime in the 70's and he lost everything. It was a sad day for bibliophiles in Boston. George, however bought the building next door and started all over again. Thus, the empty lot is still owned by Brattle Book shop and they use it daily to display less expensive books.

i never knew that when i used to go used book shopping around that area. thanks for the history!

 

[kz1000ps]

Yes; I used to enjoy browsing there. It wasn't just on weekends, as I recall...I went on lunch breaks. That was five years ago, though.

They still put the books outside on weekdays. I took my above pics Thursday morning (10:30-ish) and the lot was completely filled with them. And I too would advocate for leaving this lot alone, provided the Brattle Book Shop doesn't go anywhere (that'll be a sad day when that happens..).

And thanks for that nugget of history, Padre Mike.

 

[statler]

A downtown crossroad
City tries not to let overhaul drive shoppers away

By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | July 12, 2007

With Filene's Basement set to shutter its flagship store in several weeks, Downtown Crossing is facing its biggest challenge since the area was transformed into a pedestrian mall 30 years ago.

Five big development projects are getting underway within several blocks of each other in the struggling retail district. The most visible, and potentially disruptive, is the $625 million redevelopment of the historic Filene's department store, a block-long complex that is being turned into a 38-story tower of condominiums and hotel, office, and retail space.

In total, more than $1.2 billion in private funds is being poured into Downtown Crossing -- an unprecedented investment for the district -- to create 350,000 square feet of retail space, dormitories for 600 students, 350 hotel rooms, 550 residential units, and 700 parking spaces. If successful, these projects could bring about the long-awaited metamorphosis of Downtown Crossing, which for years has been saddled with a reputation as an unkempt, unsafe shop ping district lined with discount stores, fast-food restaurants, and vacant storefronts. To ease the pain of construction, city officials hope to spend more than $250,000 to help promote Downtown Crossing and host events there as a way to draw shoppers into the area.

"We have real concerns about the neighborhood and the hole in retail with the loss of Filene's Basement," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said. "We have to make sure the construction doesn't inhibit people from coming, and we need to help retailers to make sure people have reasons to go to Downtown Crossing."

But for the immediate future, Downtown Crossing remains more vulnerable than ever. Already, some shoppers are vowing to avoid the district, causing merchants near the development to worry they will not survive the next few years. Others are being forced out. To start clearing the way for construction at the Filene's site, expected to start in September, developers have ordered local vendors on the site, including Lambert's Market Place, to shut down at the end of the month. The Downtown Crossing Association, which runs a pushcart program with more than 40 vendors in the area, will lose 23 spots around the Filene's building and in the adjacent Shoppers' Park and is requiring owners with multiple pushcarts to abandon at least one by September.

Henry Herrera , who serves burritos from two pushcarts in Downtown Crossing, has to give up half his business. And because vendors have received no assurances that they will be allowed to stay once the Filene's redevelopment is completed, Herrera is looking for space outside of Downtown Crossing for his second pushcart. He also is considering moving his restaurant, Herrera's Mexican Grill on Temple Place, to the suburbs because he doubts that Downtown Crossing will remain busy enough to support the business through the next few years. "This is my livelihood," Herrera said. "And I'm pretty concerned that I can't make it here after 17 years in Downtown Crossing."

It's a critical time for the district, which already lost one of its prime retail attractions last year, after Macy's purchased the Filene's chain and shuttered the flagship Filene's department store in the center of Downtown Crossing. Now, Filene's Basement, a separate company that occupies three basement floors in the former Filene's building, is preparing to close at least until 2009. One of the city's top tourist attractions, Filene's Basement failed to find a temporary site after being told it would not be safe to stay open in its current location. The closing leaves another gaping hole in the neighborhood, through which more than 100,000 people pass daily. Diane Tilton , who works in the Financial District, usually visits Downtown Crossing at least twice a week to shop at Filene's Basement and grab a quick lunch. Now, she's rethinking her routine with her favorite store set to close and construction about to start.

The Filene's plan calls for fencing off most of Shoppers' Park, closing and narrowing sidewalks, and potentially shutting down surrounding streets at times. The subway entrance between the project and Franklin Street will be closed, but the exit on Summer Street will remain open. Trucks will set up for construction and demolition at Franklin and Hawley streets. A full construction management report that provides specific details has yet to be filed with the city.

The Filene's project is expected to wrap up by 2010. Construction on all of the other major developments in the area will be underway by the end of the year and should be finished by 2009. Those projects are Emerson College's 145,000-square-foot mixed-use project to include dorms, classrooms, and cultural uses at Paramount Center on Washington Street; Suffolk University's plan for a 274-bed dormitory at 10 West St.; a 31-story retail and residential project at 45 Province St.; and a 14-story mixed-use building at Hayward Place.

"It's going to faze a lot of people," Tilton said of the various construction projects. "Trying to contain all the noise, mess, and dust -- it'll be a big deal, and people aren't going to go there as much."

To persuade people to continue to visit the district, the city is considering setting up "pop-up" stores, or temporary retail outlets built around the perimeter of the Filene's site, according to Randi Lathrop of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Other ideas include creating an on-site information center for passersby, wrapping the entire building site in cloth graphics and advertisements, and designing a website with video showing progress of the projects in the district.

"We need to go beyond the chain-link fence. That's fine in some neighborhoods but that's not going to be fine for Downtown Crossing," said Lathrop. "It's critical that Downtown Crossing is kept vital in these next few years and people still feel comfortable coming down here. This is really the heart and soul of the city."

Meanwhile, Macy's, which sits next to the Filene's site, also is stepping up its programs this fall with plans to hold a Halloween pet costume contest and host fashion shows, celebrity appearances, and cooking demonstrations.

Gale International president John B. Hynes III, one of the developers for the Filene's project, said a very large sign and graphics program is planned for the site that will try to conceal and contain all of the activity. The colorful signs will promote new commercial and retail tenants as deals are signed.

"We recognize that the site is in the heart of Downtown Crossing. There are a lot of abutting businesses that depend on the success of the project," Hynes said. "We're trying to offset the inconveniences of the construction with the promise of what will soon be realized -- a better Downtown Crossing."

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.

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Hayward Place (2009)??
Wait...what?

 

[KentXie]

Well at least now Hayward Place will be mixed-use. I still think that parking lot is prime land for a tall skyscrapers but I guess they beg to differ.

 

[czsz]

The most visible, and potentially disruptive, is the $625 million redevelopment of the historic Filene's department store, a block-long complex that is being turned into a 38-story tower of condominiums and hotel, office, and retail space.

How lax the Globe's editors have been lately (see the article on Copley station in the transit forum)! You might think from reading this sentence that every Filene's building was being trashed to make way for the new tower.

 

[Bobby Digital]

Well at least now Hayward Place will be mixed-use. I still think that parking lot is prime land for a tall skyscrapers but I guess they beg to differ.

Yea thats real short and fat from that box rendering. That could be alot bigger judging by that footprint.

How lax the Globe's editors have been lately (see the article on Copley station in the transit forum)! You might think from reading this sentence that every Filene's building was being trashed to make way for the new tower.

I dont think they're lazy, I think there's probably less of em these days considering the state of the newspaper industry. Each editor probably has much more work.

 

[Beton Brut]

Yea thats real short and fat from that box rendering. That could be alot bigger judging by that footprint.

Given its proximity to public transportation and the size of the lot, it's arguably a better place for a 1000-footer than Winthrop Square.

 

[statler]

Pushcart plan gets cool reception from Menino
Mayor Thomas M. Menino reacted coolly to a proposal to relocate some pushcart merchants to City Hall Plaza during massive redevelopment at Downtown Crossing. "We're not going to abandon Downtown Crossing," Menino said. "We're going to continue to promote it as a shopping destination during this difficult time." A recent Globe story noted Downtown Crossing faces big challenges as five development projects get underway; due to construction, a pushcart program with more than 40 vendors could lose 23 spots. City Council president Maureen E. Feeney of Dorchester and councilor Sal LaMattina of East Boston proposed a measure that would ask the mayor to allow displaced pushcarts to temporarily move to City Hall Plaza. (Chris Reidy)

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[BarbaricManchurian]

Pushcart plan gets cool reception from Menino
Mayor Thomas M. Menino reacted coolly to a proposal to relocate some pushcart merchants to City Hall Plaza during massive redevelopment at Downtown Crossing. "We're not going to abandon Downtown Crossing," Menino said. "We're going to continue to promote it as a shopping destination during this difficult time." A recent Globe story noted Downtown Crossing faces big challenges as five development projects get underway; due to construction, a pushcart program with more than 40 vendors could lose 23 spots. City Council president Maureen E. Feeney of Dorchester and councilor Sal LaMattina of East Boston proposed a measure that would ask the mayor to allow displaced pushcarts to temporarily move to City Hall Plaza. (Chris Reidy)

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What? He doesn't like it? This might actually bring some life into the desolate City Hall Plaza, and it's temporary, so why is he opposing it? And Downtown Crossing is going to have to be abandoned during the construction because there will be too much construction and noise, but when it's all done, it will be better than ever (I mean Filene's Basement, Barnes & Noble, Filene's, and up to 23 pushcarts are all closing or already closed, so there's no reason to go there during construction. Plus for the stores still open, all the noise will make shopping there unattractive.) So there's no reason to stop the inevitable (Downtown Crossing being "abandoned") and bring some life into the deadest part of downtown.

 

[rayray07]

I say DTX should be a 24 hour area. Shopping in the day and adult entertainment at night! clubs, bars, and strip clubs. Something like Beale Street in Memphis. Yeeea boi! (just a thought people. Just a thought!) :wink:

 

[JimboJones]

By another name

Thank you, Bobby Digital

 

[statler]

Downtown Double-Crossing: Pushcart vendors upset as city ousts businesses
By Laurel J. Sweet and Jessica Van Sack
Monday, July 23, 2007 - Updated: 07:21 AM EST

Push is coming to shove for the sidewalk pushcart vendors by Filene?s Basement at Downtown Crossing, where a massive makeover is forcing the small, wheeled businesses to hit the road.
Displaced by a $625 million redevelopment project, these nomadic peddlers of sausage subs, fresh-squeezed lemonade and cell phone cozies don?t know where they?re going and worry they won?t be welcomed back once Downtown Crossing?s made over from seedy to sensational.
This much Ali Mouti, 36, owner of New Look Collection sunglasses, is sure of: ?Money talks and pushcarts walk.?


Grumbled Craig Caplan, 40, of the Unique Boutique watch, handbag and luggage kiosks, ?I have to worry about homeless drug addicts, thieves, the weather - now this? I?m not a second-class citizen. This is the hardest form of retail there is.?
Filene?s Basement is scheduled to close its doors for two years on Aug. 31 to make way for a tower expected to include multimillion-dollar homes, stores and a luxury hotel.
Anne Meyers, president of the Downtown Crossing Association to which vendors pay hundreds of dollars in rent per month, said the pushcart program has ?verbal OKs? from stores within the area who have said they will let vendors set up out front through March. But she was unable to say how many vendors, or which ones, will be accommodated. She also acknowledged that none of it is set in stone.
?I do not know what the long term is,? Meyers said. ?We?ve done the best we can for everybody. Is it perfect? Absolutely not.?
Pushcart licenses must be approved by police and abutting store owners. But the carts can be evicted with 30 days? notice.
?They?ve never had longevity guaranteed,? Meyers stressed.
Last week, City Council President Maureen Feeney and Councilor Sal LaMattina wrote Mayor Thomas M. Menino, asking him to host the pushcarts on City Hall Plaza.
?It?s a David and Goliath situation,? Feeney said. ?If we build these exciting new schematics and skyscrapers, I think we shouldn?t forget the people that could be overshadowed by all the development.?
Menino?s office, which has not responded to the City Council, referred questions yesterday to Susan Elsbree, spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. She said Menino is reluctant to pull the carts from Downtown Crossing, where they draw traffic. But she said the vendors? ?fears are real. Every day matters.? And while there may not be a place for all of them in the new Downtown Crossing, she said, ?The pushcarts are certainly a piece of? the pedestrian mall?s future.
?We consider them legitimate businessmen and women,? Elsbree said.
Caplan and his wife, Melissa have already agreed to shut down one of their three pushcarts and Mouti, one of two, in hopes of saving their businesses. Still, Mouti said, ?Tourism in Downtown Crossing has dropped off. I have regular customers from the offices, but if I have to move, I don?t know if they?ll follow me.?

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[JimboJones]

OH god no

Where will I get my handbags and lemonade, now???

 

[rayray07]

I hate the fact that they're changing this area into an upscale one. Pretty soon all of Boston is going to be upscale and full of rich people leaving no room for the (lower) middle class folks. I like how DTX showcases all of the races, ethnicity's and social classes of the city's population and not just the ultra wealthy. I'm going to miss this area

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Boston isn't the only city where this is the problem. But come on, most of the middle class live in the suburbs.

 

[KentXie]

^^ And the lower class lives in the city. It's not always about the middle and upper classes you know.

 

[rayray07]

And the lower class too,DarkFenX. And the lower class too :wink:

 

[JimboJones]

?

You're going to miss it and you live in Memphis Tennessee???

(I'm partially joking, I'm sure you have good reasons for wanting it. Also, what I wrote below isn't directed to you, Mr. Tenn, but to anyone who wishes things could just "stay as they are".)

What's to miss? The CVS? Dress Barn? The Barnes & Noble? (Oh, right, closed because no one went to it.) The HMV? (Oh, right, closed because no one went to it.)

The neighborhood is on its last legs.

I mean, really. It's a no-man's land.

Read what the pushcart vendors are saying, for pete's sake.

... he is not convinced that the area will reemerge as a vital shopping district once construction is over, because other problems, such as the presence of drug addicts and homeless people, need to be addressed ...

... I have to worry about homeless drug addicts, thieves, the weather - now this? ...

What do you want this to be, downtown Worcester?

 

[rayray07]

Yea I'm from Boston and I come up every summer for the entire summer so I still know a lot about Boston. I'm here now tho

 

[statler]

Menino pushing for interests of vendors
Wants sites settled for Crossing rehab

By April Simpson, Globe Staff | July 24, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino delivered a rebuke yesterday on behalf of pushcart vendors worried that they are being run off by a major makeover of Downtown Crossing.

In a sharply worded letter to Anne Meyers -- president of the Downtown Crossing Association, which receives rent from pushcart vendors -- Menino said he was shocked to learn that pushcarts had not yet been assigned new spaces in the Downtown Crossing area. He asked that new locations with "ample foot traffic and visibility" be found for the vendors immediately.

"These vendors pay hundreds of dollars in rent to your organization each month and expect in return managerial support," Menino said in the letter, adding that the association's city license would be scrutinized when it comes up for review next April.

"I don't want to abandon that area at all during this time of renovation," Menino said in a telephone interview this week.

A $625 million redevelopment project is chopping the number of spots for pushcart vendors near Filene's Basement from about 40 to 23.

Vendors who own more than one cart are being told they must move one to another location by September, and many said they don't know where they will be allowed to go. They worry that the new location will be in an out-of-the-way spot where their profits will disappear .

"I make a living by this thing," said Marco Bertinelli, a Chilean immigrant who dices white onions and green peppers and grills Italian sausages near the corner of Washington and Franklin streets.

Meyers said the Downtown Crossing Association is working to find a spot for each displaced vendor.

"Everybody's going to work together to make sure that Downtown Crossing is open for business," Meyers said Friday. "All the other stores are here. It's very unfortunate that the Basement is going to be closing for 18 months, but the Basement is not the only store in Downtown Crossing.

"There are 100,000 people who come through Downtown Crossing every day, and they weren't all coming to Filene's Basement."

Maureen E. Feeney, president of the City Council, and Councilor Salvatore LaMattina are planning to meet Aug. 2 with owners of area restaurants and pushcarts to hear where they would like to move. Last week, Feeney, of Dorchester, and LaMattina, of East Boston, wrote to Menino suggesting that the vendors relocate to City Hall Plaza, but neither Menino nor the vendors liked that idea.

The vendors say that they don't want to lose their customer base and that there just isn't enough foot traffic near City Hall.

"With a pushcart, you move one day, and it's gone," said Linda DeMarco, owner of Boston Pretzel Bakery.

Craig Caplan -- who has sold watches, purses, T-shirts, and backpacks for 15 years -- said he is not convinced that the area will reemerge as a vital shopping district once construction is over, because other problems, such as the presence of drug addicts and homeless people, need to be addressed.

"The easy answer is to keep us here in Downtown Crossing," Caplan said. "We want to be a part of fixing the place up."

April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com.

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