Fan Pier Developments | Seaport

Looking at that picture was like watching KG limp up and down the court.

So sad...
 
As someone already said, this does appear to be the temp structure
 
Shepard - Maybe we are confusing one another, but these images are definitely of the interior of the temp One Marina Park setup. The building being constructed closer to the water is technically also a temporary install. Not AS temporary as this arrangement, but it is not part of the Fan Pier master plan.
 
statler said:
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So where you see the corrugated metal and wood behind the window is actually looking at the different, "temporary" structure?
 
From the Facebook page:

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The NEW LOUIS store on the waterfront is now OPEN at Fan Pier ! April 21, 2010 - LOOK at those windows ! Walls of glass overlooking the water and Boston's HarborWalk surround many of the display areas at LOUIS - a pleasant visual experience while perusing around the store.
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That's the new temp/perm building (i.e not One Marina Park Drive):

Welcome to Louis, the new incarnation of Louis Boston, now settled into its permanent home on Fan Pier and open as of today.
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Link
 
"The aesthetically bankrupt consumer is our best customer."
 
While you were down there, BYMH, did you happen to notice if they had a dedicated parking lot as park of their footprint?

I'm interested to see how this shack-in-a-field will turn out, although I don't need to guess how a shack-in-a-parking-lot would turn out.
 
There was a parking lot if you go down Fan Pier Blvd...but it says it is closed for public access. The courthouse pay lot adjacent to One Marina Park has signs for Louis....so I don't know if you have to pay to park there or not? I would assume not. To be safe, while all of you are planning your trip to the seaport with the intention of buying a $600 shirt, maybe just park on the street.
 
Boston Globe - April 27, 2010
Behind the Louis move
As retailer reopens on Fan Pier, owners in legal battle over Back Bay building

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | April 27, 2010

In public, Debi Greenberg sounded like a brave urban pioneer making a beeline to the future. She was taking her famously high-end Newbury Street clothing store, LouisBoston, out of the stodgy old Back Bay and relocating to the edgy South Boston Waterfront, a district more a theory than an actual neighborhood yet.

But behind the scenes, leaving the Back Bay is proving not so easy. Greenberg has been involved in a messy legal fight over the control and value of the old LouisBoston property, an architectural masterpiece from 1862 that once housed the New England Museum of Natural History, and that sits on one of the most enviable pieces of real estate in the city.

According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Suffolk Superior Court, Greenberg is at war with her longtime co-owners of the Back Bay building ? Stephen Weiner, one of the region?s most prominent developers, and the daughters of a second co-owner and developer, the late Julian Cohen.

Greenberg is willing to sell her stake in the building ? for $8.7 million. But Weiner and the Cohens say that her interest is only worth $5 million and that she is trying to claim a ?grossly inflated?? price based on improperly calculated tax and sales numbers, according to the lawsuit.

Neither Weiner nor Greenberg would comment on their dispute, and the Cohens could not be reached for comment. But associates who know all three parties said the matter has fueled bitter resentment between Weiner and Greenberg.

LouisBoston, a retail icon in the city, moved from Boylston Street to Newbury in the late 1980s. The freestanding three-story building, designed in the French academic style, was a fitting monument to Louis?s high fashion. When Louis opened in its new location in 1989, the Globe called it a ?gem of a historic 1860s building surrounded by giants of brash ultramodern 1980s construction,?? and said its restored quality equaled that of ?the expensive clothes that grace its grand rooms.??

The move was engineered by Debi Greenberg?s father, Murray Pearlstein, who struck up a partnership with Weiner and Cohen to buy the building in 1995. The partnership purchased the building from New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. for $8.2 million, according to Suffolk County property records.

In 2003, Greenberg bought out her father and assumed control of LouisBoston. Her disenchantment with the Back Bay ? and with Weiner ? began almost immediately, according to associates of both executives.

While the store was at the epicenter of the city?s most exclusive shopping district, Greenberg was never enamored with the location, saying publicly that it represented an outdated notion of luxury and was being hemmed in by national chains.

?I want a home that is my own identity,?? Greenberg told the Globe in a 2008 interview. ?Here on Newbury Street, the stores are all similar. There isn?t anything new anymore. The building next door houses H&M and Victoria?s Secret. It makes this area feel less special and less unique.??

That viewpoint contrasted sharply with the business ethos of Weiner, whose development firm, SR Weiner & Associates, focused primarily on developing and managing New England shopping malls filled with the kind of chains Greenberg had decried in the Back Bay.

The fight over LouisBoston?s Back Bay building began in late 2009, when Greenberg?s move to leave Newbury triggered a monthslong tussle over the breakup of their partnership and control of building, according to the lawsuit.

Weiner and the Cohens allege in court papers that Greenberg sought to ?artificially engineer?? a dispute ? by introducing a third party buyer for the building last November ? that would break up the trio?s partnership as she prepared to move to the South Boston waterfront.

Weiner and the Cohens did not agree to the sale of the building for $15 million, but offered to buy Greenberg?s 49 percent stake for $5 million. But Greenberg says that her stake is worth $8.7 million, citing additional money Weiner and the Cohen family owed her for excess rent she paid during their partnership, according to the suit.

Weiner and the Cohens, however, say that Greenberg?s assertion of the excess rent is based on her own miscalculations. For example, the suit says, Greenberg inflated the amount she?s owed by improperly including insurance costs and by misreporting some sales figures.

Greenberg?s lawyer, David Hill, said yesterday that his client has not filed an answer to the complaint and declined to comment further. The Weiners and Cohens are asking the court to take one of two actions: force Greenberg to sell her stake in the building to them for $5 million, or, if the court deems some reimbursement for excess rent is owed, declare the amount asserted by Greenberg ?erroneous and overstated?? and establish the correct amount on which to base the sale.

As the case wends its way through the court, Greenberg last week opened the new LouisBoston ? now known as Louis ? at the Fan Pier development on the South Boston waterfront.

As Greenberg seeks to start over there, Weiner?s team is trying to pick up the pieces at the store?s former Newbury Street location. Executives with the building?s manager, W/S Development, have said it will take months to rehabilitate the historic building and find a high-end retailer to fill its vacant space.

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
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Greenberg's right--Newbury is vastly less interesting than it was even 10 years ago. I'm sure they find a suitable tenant for the Newbury Street location, but it's certainly going to be an upscale chain like Saks or Bloomingdales, something you could find anywhere.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
I thought the same thing! Then I started paying attention and realized what I was looking at.
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I thought that, too, then thought it was a quickie pavilion job like Louis Boston, then realized the sad truth.
 
The old LouisBoston building isn't appropriate for retail. An elite club would be far more fitting. Perhaps another five-star restaurant to add to Boston's growing reputation, lounges, concierge, and a few boarding suites. That driveway is begging for a fleet of black European coaches, but not Rolls Royces - don't want to rip off Hong Kong.
 
It's been retail for a long time -- before Louis, it was Bonwit Teller.
 
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