Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

Ugh, this news gives me that sinking feeling inside.
 
So this is WAAAY OT, but its pretty discouraging that C. George is closing in H. Square. The Globe Corner Bookstore is closing too.

I know we put a fork in Harvard square as an authentic, interesting destination 10 years ago when they opened that Abercrombie and Fitch store, but now the place is so played out that we're putting the proverbial leftovers in the freezer. Its really just banks and corporate bullshit now (and I'm including J.Press in the corporate bullshit category).

As an aside, interesting to consider whether the coincedent demise of the Harvard Undergraduate as an interesting, authentic individual - and his re-emergence as an avatar of banks and corporate interests - is a phenomenon of correlation or causation?

On second thought, maybe this isn't OT at all. Looking forward (symbolically) to a newly "thriving" DTX populated by Applebees, ATMs, and Starbucks.....
 
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Harvard Sq still has Cardullo's, Bartley's Burger Cottage, Brattle Theatre, Cafe Algiers, Club Passim, and the two Cambridge Center for Adult Education houses on Brattle Street. So I wouldn't write it entirely off just yet. But the accelerated decline of book and music culture there is quite startling.
 
"As an aside, interesting to consider whether the coincedent demise of the Harvard Undergraduate as an interesting, authentic individual - and his re-emergence as an avatar of banks and corporate interests - is a phenomenon of correlation or causation?"

Hate to break it to you but by the 1980s this was already true! Except for those whom were outright sympathizers with Red China and the USSR, or trustfunders towing the family legacy before hauling off to find their bullshit selves in Tibet or some other exotic locale, everyone was on the corporate bandwagon.

Unless someone is a researcher at Harvard, they fall into the rather unoriginal and uninspiring archetypes pervasive at every American university probably since the 1960s.

MIT is the best, most productive, and unique university not full of bullshit these days.
 
^Ron
Might as well add Casablanca and Dicksons, two favorite joints.

What are the equivalents in DTX? I don't think I've eaten in Marliave, but certainly Bromfield Camera (if that is the name) and a number of other small retailers on that street are interesting. Then there's Silvertone, a decent Mexican place, a few great hummus lunch restaurants. Maybe this is a different thread, but I think DTX has a few gems here and there.
 
Bromfield Street used to be the place to find cameras or get repairs. Unfortunately the digital age killed those stores very rapidly in the late 90s.

All the niche stores on the side streets off of Washington hit hard times and died from the 80s onward. It has really killed off the reasons to shop in DTX even more so than the loss of the department store anchors.
 
Boston.com
Borders to close in Downtown Crossing
E-mail| Print | Comments (45) June 9, 2011 2:31 PM

By Globe staff and wires

The troubled Borders Group Inc. bookstore chain is closing its Downtown Crossing location, leaving another big empty store front in the heart of the city.

Borders, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February, is already shuttering eight other stores in Massachusetts, including its high profile Boylston Street store in Boston.

They are among more than 200 store closings nationwide as the retailer struggled with weak customer spending and a lack of liquidity. In recent years the chain overextended itself domestically and internationally, and failed to reinvent itself quickly or dramatically enough to cope with changes in the industry, such as the e-book, retail analysts have said.

Adding Downtown Crossing to the list of closures comes as Borders Group says it may have to close dozens of its best-performing stores due to a bankruptcy court requirement that it obtain extensions for its lease negotiations.

The closure is another blow to the Downtown Crossing shopping district, which has become an eyesore after construction stopped nearly three years ago on the redevelopment of the former Filene?s site.
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Let's rebrand the area as "Innovation District 2" and all will be better.
 
Then three years after it opens, AMC Boston Common closes.
 
KentXie said:
Then three years after it opens, AMC Boston Common closes.
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Did you read the link? I don't think that $29 a ticket, $20 entrees, and seats with pillows and blankets is going to close AMC Loews Boston Common 19 anytime soon.
 
The Herald articles go under a pay-wall after 14 days, so here's the article.

Premier movie experience eyed for Borders locale
By Thomas Grillo

An upscale movie theater chain that offers stadium seating, reclining leather chairs with pillows and blankets, restaurant service with a full bar and free valet parking is eyeing the soon-to-be-vacated Borders bookstore location in Downtown Crossing.

“It’s an exciting new movie concept, and they want to come here,” said Peter Meade, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, who met with officials from Florida-based iPic Theaters last month at an annual retail convention in Las Vegas. “The idea has been successful in a couple of other cities, and we think it would work in Downtown Crossing.”

Theodore J. Chryssicas, a commercial real estate agent from Colliers International Boston who represents iPic, said he recently took company officials to the Borders location at the corner of School and Washington streets and to several other sites in Greater Boston that he would not identify.

“We did a walk around Borders to get a feel for the space, and there’s preliminary interest,” he said.

The iPic Theaters concept was launched in Wisconsin in 2007, combining movies with upscale bars and restaurants and sometimes bowling alleys.

It’s not a cheap night out, with movie tickets costing up to $29 each and entrees starting in the mid-$20 range.

“It’s a high-ticket item,” said Meade. “But there’s an audience for it in Boston.”

Upscale movie theaters have taken off in recent years, and the Hub is already ringed by higher-end, suburban Showcase Cinema de Lux outposts.

A Downtown Crossing location would mark the first East Coast foray for iPic, which has theaters in Texas, the Midwest and on the West Coast.

Donna DePrisco, of DePrisco Jewelers in Downtown Crossing, said she loves the idea.

“Given the ceiling height, the Borders site is a natural space for a theater,” she said. “It will bring people to the downtown and fill the void left by the Borders shoppers. That location is busy morning, noon and night with book lovers, and a theater-dinner crowd will fill the streets.”
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http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0616screen_gem_eyed_for_borders_locale/
 
11th hour reprieve for Borders. Store & cafe to remain open at least through August, possibly longer.
 
Not sure if there is a thread for this... it looks like 1 Federal got a 3 story addition to the lowrise portion?

IMG_8216.jpg


Also here is just a random pic of DTX for the heck of it

IMG_8246.jpg
 
I really like that they at least attempted to carry on the neon tradition on the (redone) facade of the LCC. A for effort, F for follow-through.
 
DZH22 said:
Not sure if there is a thread for this... it looks like 1 Federal got a 3 story addition to the lowrise portion?
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It's just a reclad of what was there. There's a rendering hanging on the side of the building.
 
albertmw said:
It's just a reclad of what was there. There's a rendering hanging on the side of the building.
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This was discussed in the Blackstone lobbies thread. Apparently, they re-purposed 3 windowless (once check-processing) floors into usable space with natural light.
 
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