Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

The Hotel Avery was at the intersection of Avery & Washington Street on the same side as (Roche Bois? furniture) is now. It had attached parking which was unique for downtown hotels at the time of its construction. It became a rooming house and homeless shelter in its later years before a fire gutted it.
 
I remember several years of surface parking lots between the failure of 'Commonwealth Center' and the start of building Millennium/Ritz.
 
BostonObserver said:
The scissors and knife sharpening guy came by truck as did the Cushman Bakery guy.
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I still have that in my neighborhood. A guy drives around in a truck with a bell and will sharpen your tools if you need it. I think he's gotta be a retiree just looking to fill his days because I can't even fathom how he pays to gas up his truck, let alone support himself on such work.
 
Ron Newman said:
I remember several years of surface parking lots between the failure of 'Commonwealth Center' and the start of building Millennium/Ritz.
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Ron -- standing where this picture was taken -- you would have seen the sign for the Hotel Avery and from about 6 PM on -- you would see the sign of the activity associated with the Avery as it flowed out of Washington St. toward the Common

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1+ave...oid=IF6By80nTbsCQPP5RMWaQQ&cbp=12,139.27,,0,0


This corner is incomparably better now
 
I'm surprised that chain has lasted as long as it has. The era of humdrum retail in DTX(as opposed to higher-end retail on Newbury) is behind us, and we're already seeing a switch over to increasing numbers of higher-end bars and restaurants - one of the few products/experiences that cannot be streamed, downloaded, or purchased on Amazon. This switch will be painful but ultimately necessary and overdue.
 
To be be fair, the experience of going to middle-brow and lower end bars and restaurants can't be downloaded, streamed or bought on Amazon either.
 
When they changed the name and exterior signage of that store from Strawberries (local brand) to FYE (national), that was the beginning of the end. Sigh, yet another high-profile vacancy in DTX.

Is the entire FYE chain closing, or just this location?

Also, I haven't seen this news reported elsewhere (compared to extensive coverage of first B&N and then Borders closing nearby). Will there be a clearance sale?
 
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Spoke to an employee yesterday. They learned it was closing last week. I'm not sure about the national chain.

All sales final, EVERYTHING marked down. Right now, most DVD's are 30% off and used items are 20% off. They also have decent Sennheiser head/earphones at good prices.

On upper floors (classical, opera, etc.) all items have been 30% for weeks. Oddly, those items are now 20% off but probably dropping in weeks ahead.

PS. Catch the tadpoles swimming across the Paramount LED windows. A friend of mine did that video wall, based on an arts residency at Harvard biolab. It's terrific.
 
Question for John or other RE folks:

How does one go about getting a lease price for downtown retail space? Is it usually a set price list or more of person to person deal depending on what you want to do with the space?
 
Great, FYE can join the large vacant location from the former Barnes and Noble and long with another empty space to the left of FYE. That stretch is taking hits.
 
Walking down Temple Street last night I was astonished at the number of empty storefronts.

Riffing on the "Broken Windows" theory, I do think even a modicum of sidewalk repair (instead of tar patches) and streetlight improvements might make the area more welcoming and possibly raise the prospects of folks taking leases.

The retail potential is STAGGERING and if I didn't have a business now I'd consider hanging a shingle out myself, leasing for a few years and making/selling some type of goods or another.
 
statler said:
Question for John or other RE folks:

How does one go about getting a lease price for downtown retail space? Is it usually a set price list or more of person to person deal depending on what you want to do with the space?
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Having been involved in this sort of thing from the tenant side, my experience is that you make a deal for whatever both sides are willing to negotiate. Pricing is fluid and dependent on what else is going on with similar buildings in similar locations. Also factored in are use purpose issues, such as whether or not it will harm the rentability of other spaces in the building, whether expensive amenities or build-out are required, who pays for said build-out, etc. I suspect every deal is unique, but the overriding principle is that they follow what the market will dictate.
 
Statler, I wish I knew. I have never done commercial real estate and the whole thing seems a mystery. For retail, if you're a small company going into a pre-existing space, pretty much you negotiate the rent, sign a lease, and then you're in.

If you want upgrades / renovations, then, as others say, it comes down to negotiating who pays for what. I read (third hand) that Kelly's and the landlord in Allston both put in money to renovate that space. Since it was a package store previously, it needed a lot of work to turn it into a restaurant. The landlord got a ten year lease while the restaurant got to split the costs.

When you talk about office space, though, I think it's a whole different animal. I get the feeling it is very chummy, with the commercial real estate agents / brokers kissing up to major tenants, taking them to ball games, dinners, etc., so that they get their business. Anyone know?

I'm sitting in DTX right now. I hope to spend a lot of time down here working over the coming months and years, on both residential and commercial real estate. I have high hopes for the future.

statler said:
Question for John or other RE folks:

How does one go about getting a lease price for downtown retail space? Is it usually a set price list or more of person to person deal depending on what you want to do with the space?
Click to expand...
 
JohnAKeith said:
When you talk about office space, though, I think it's a whole different animal. I get the feeling it is very chummy, with the commercial real estate agents / brokers kissing up to major tenants, taking them to ball games, dinners, etc., so that they get their business. Anyone know?
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You don't even have to be a major tenant to get this treatment. Think about any interaction you've had with salesmen in other fields. The guy who buys you lunch hoping you'll buy a copier from him, for example. Then think about a sale that isn't $5,000, but is hundreds of thousands of dollars (5,000 square feet at $25 times five years = $625,000). That's a fairly middle of the road office suite. I don't know what the broker's cut is, because the fee is typically paid by the landlord, but suppose it's 5%? Even a small deal is a big deal due to the scale and time line involved. They will invest significantly more in making you feel good.
 
046-22.jpg
 
I feel like that whole area should be redeveloped and rebranded. The should keep the facade though, except for the FYE building.
 
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