Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

"the tears aren't coming; the tears just aren't coming!"

img1786aw8.jpg
 
"It looks like he's dead."
"Wait, he is dead or he just looks like he's dead?"
"It just looks like he's dead; he's got blue paint all over him."


Ok... back to architecture.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
"It looks like he's dead."
"Wait, he is dead or he just looks like he's dead?"
"It just looks like he's dead; he's got blue paint all over him."
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Lol, awesome Van. Best new show of the decade..

(the new format Top Gear comes in a close second)
 
A site with so much potential (could at least hide the hideous parking garage)... and we get a Verizon store... seems like a bit of a waste.


 
Re: Downtown Crossing to be Evaluated

Retailers, restaurants eyeing Hub
Menino promotes city at Vegas event

Globe Staff / May 20, 2008

Popular apparel discounter Steve & Barry's is aggressively scouting Boston locations, including the former Barnes & Noble space in Downtown Crossing, to open a shop in the city within the next two years, according to Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
more stories like this

Steve & Barry's executives met yesterday in Las Vegas with Menino, who returned to Sin City for his annual trip to promote the Hub at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention. Founded in 1985, Steve & Barry's operates over 260 stores in 38 states, and has struck partnerships with celebrities, including basketball star Stephon Marbury and fashion icon and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, to offer collections that largely retail for under $10.

"They're serious about coming to Boston soon," Menino said in a phone interview from Vegas. "They are visiting the city in early July to meet with us and look at some sites."

Steve & Barry's recently opened a flagship store in Manhattan on Broadway, a space previously occupied by Tower Records.

"We are looking forward to touring the city of Boston and working with the mayor's office in order to find great locations so that we can best serve our customers," said Doug Calvin, Steve & Barry's director of real estate. "At the moment, we are looking forward to opening our first Boston area location at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers this summer and hope to have more locations to announce over the coming year."

During his Vegas jaunt yesterday, Menino also met with cosmetics giant Ulta which is scoping out space in West Roxbury and Downtown Crossing, including the former HMV record store space on Winter Street. Ulta, one of the largest beauty retailers in the country, is planning to open more than 60 stores this year and dozens more next year, according to Susan Elsbree, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority who met with store executives.

An Ulta spokeswoman confirmed that the retailer is interested in coming to Boston and discussed several locations with Menino.

Meanwhile, Menino said yesterday that Morton's Restaurant Group Inc., which recently opened a second Boston steakhouse, at the Seaport, is interested in a third location at the redeveloped Filene's complex in Downtown Crossing.

Mike Wood of Tavistock Restaurants also confirmed to Menino yesterday that the company had signed a deal to lease space on the waterfront at the former Jimmy's Harborside Restaurant. Wood, in an interview, said the restaurant group would open ZED 451, a high-end restaurant in 2010 as part of the redeveloped space.

Noodle bar Wagamama, which has opened stores in Faneuil Hall and Harvard Square, is also negotiating for a space in the Prudential Center, in one of the Talbot's clothing stores that is closing.

"We expect to reach a deal soon with the Prudential Center and we're hoping to open within the next year," said Ed McGraw, vice president of development for Wagamama.

Menino also met with Pinkberry, a California-based frozen yogurt franchise, that is eyeing potential locations in the Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, and Fenway areas. Discounter Payless ShoeSource is considering a site in Faneuil Hall and one in Hyde Park, and LA Fitness International is close to signing a deal for a West Roxbury gym off the VFW Parkway, according to Elsbree.

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
Click to expand...

Link
 
Re: Downtown Crossing to be Evaluated

Good, but what we really need is a major full-service department store.
 
Re: Filene's

I wish we can have this kind of urban vitality every day. The crowds look nice, even if its only for a day :(.
 
Re: Filene's

BarbaricManchurian said:
I wish we can have this kind of urban vitality every day. The crowds look nice, even if its only for a day :(.
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Once both housing towers are complete and some more diversified retail / commercial and quality restaurants move in, I think it will be much more animated. I used to work down there and during commute times and lunchtime Downtown Crossing was very active. It was so interesting the crowd was so diverse that I saw businessmen and vagrants sharing the sidewalk, daily. I miss working downtown a lot.
 
Re: Filene's

The old Barnes and Noble could sure use a facelift. I hope something decent goes in there.
 
Re: Filene's

BarbaricManchurian said:
I wish we can have this kind of urban vitality every day. The crowds look nice, even if its only for a day :(.
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Seriously? I challenge you to find a day when the crowd isn't like that for at least 3 or 4 hours. You'd be hard pressed to find a more active pedestrian district in the city. Of course it's not a white enough crowd for the mayor, is that the problem?
 
Re: Filene's

The problem is, most days after 7 pm you could roll a bowling ball down the middle of Washington Street without hitting a pedestrian.
 
Re: Filene's

Pierce said:
Seriously? I challenge you to find a day when the crowd isn't like that for at least 3 or 4 hours. You'd be hard pressed to find a more active pedestrian district in the city. Of course it's not a white enough crowd for the mayor, is that the problem?
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Yes, everyday. There might be some people passing through DTX, but Asian-style crowds only appear on major events, plus the district shuts down at night. The new condos will help alleviate that, but DTX isn't the most vibrant spot in Boston. I would say Chinatown is, it always has a huge crowd, street vendors, honking horns, construction noise, tons of pedestrians and seedy establishments, its like a slice of a much larger city (and no one complains about the vitality either, unlike in Back Bay or Beacon Hill, those two districts seem positively ultra-quiet by comparison).
 
Re: Filene's

What the heck is an "asian-style crowd"? lol. DTX is packed in the afternoon mon-fri. The difference between that pic during the celts parade and the average sunny wednesday at 1pm is negligible
 
Re: Filene's

Trolling for racial comments methinks. The ethnicity of the young thugs, which put off some shoppers from Downtown Crossing, is actually fairly diverse. They hang around without doing much, beyond trying to look tough to impress their peers, and eating at Corner Mall food court. An increase in pedestrian activity is going to make it more difficult to stand around all day and they'll find other places to congregate.
 
Re: Filene's

Lurker said:
Trolling for racial comments methinks. The ethnicity of the young thugs, which put off some shoppers from Downtown Crossing, is actually fairly diverse. They hang around without doing much, beyond trying to look tough to impress their peers, and eating at Corner Mall food court. An increase in pedestrian activity is going to make it more difficult to stand around all day and they'll find other places to congregate.
Click to expand...

trauling, perhaps. not trolling though, I'll stand by it. What I reference is Menino's emphasis a year ago or so about "revitalizing" downtown crossing and his choice of other words which indicated that DTX was somehow failing as an urban space--which is obviously just plain wrong, lest we indict every public space in the city under such lofty standards. Really it was his way of getting around what he meant: that Hip Zepi USA and "urban" shops that sell the then-popular "stop snitchin" shirts, flashy sneakers, etc., and the crowds they attract, were not the type of vitality that he was looking for for the district
 
Re: Filene's

^^ And where's your proof of this?
 
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