Menino pushing for eateries in Common, Back Bay Fens

[BosDevelop]

Would have been better if it was a Chacarero.

they are closing locations (Province St.) not opening. I have heard that they just want to focus on Arch St. and not expand again. As for Sam LaGrassa's I doubt it would ever happen. They keep VERY limited hours and they like that. I believe they are only open for 4-5 hours a day and never on weekends. I am sure they have had many offers to expand to other locations over the years and I highly doubt they will start now. But I like the thought. For those familiar with Mike and Patty's in Bay Village, I wish they would have opened a second location here.

 

[lucky]

wow, a florida based chain restaurant. this really sucks but who could be surprised. anything resembling "vision" is absent in Boston planning. The city is turning into a mall with no authenticity.

 

[HenryAlan]

wow, a florida based chain restaurant. this really sucks but who could be surprised. anything resembling "vision" is absent in Boston planning. The city is turning into a mall with no authenticity.

We are lucky that this movement isn't further along. Boston is much less mallified and standardized than most of the U.S. Even my 10 year old daughter was able to notice this and remark on it to me the other day. I agree this is a poor result, but I'm glad it is odd enough to merit attention. When it becomes unremarkable, that's when we'll have a real problem.

 

[PaulC]

I wonder if the feeling was that a sandwich shop would have more of a take away business than a burger place(cold vs hot). Also will they have restrooms? Above a certain number of seats they are required and anything but a sandwich shop may have needed a lot of seats to be profitable.

 

[JohnAKeith]

 

[George_Apley]

^ It's said that for weeks... surprised no one's changed the sign...

 

[BostonUrbEx]

^ It's said that for weeks... surprised no one's changed the sign...

That's actually part of the sign. The bathrooms won't be cleaned for the conversion, they'll be recycling all 'leftovers' for use in the sandwich shop.

 

[Beton Brut]

"Flush twice -- it's a long way to the Mayor's Office."

 

[choo]

I'm not one of those people that thinks chains are ruining the world (although I avoid them when i visit new places). That said, I really wish the city would have shown a strong local bias here. Didn't have to be upscale, but I mean the only time I have had this place was when I was in an airport somewhere and was very unimpressed. I don't want the common to have regional airport quality food.

 

[philip]

I think even a kelly's, reginas pizza or santarpios would have better than some national chain. I guess they're looking for something with a somewhat more diverse menu.

Oh well.....

 

[Lurker]

Look on the bright side. It could have been a Sbarro.

 

[quinninin]

I'm not one of those people that thinks chains are ruining the world (although I avoid them when i visit new places). That said, I really wish the city would have shown a strong local bias here. Didn't have to be upscale, but I mean the only time I have had this place was when I was in an airport somewhere and was very unimpressed. I don't want the common to have regional airport quality food.

To be fair the one at Downtown Disney is actually pretty decent. The one at logan however is not, and am hoping this more along the lines of the one at Disney....

 

[palindrome]

could have been a shake shack....

 

[BosDevelop]

I'm not one of those people that thinks chains are ruining the world (although I avoid them when i visit new places). That said, I really wish the city would have shown a strong local bias here. Didn't have to be upscale, but I mean the only time I have had this place was when I was in an airport somewhere and was very unimpressed. I don't want the common to have regional airport quality food.

Unfortunately, the economics are such that building out this location required a ridiculous amount of capital (in the millions I believe the Earl of Sandwich CEO said in a recent article) given the size of the space. There just aren't that many local options with access to that kind of money who were interested in this very small space.

 

[statler]

Really? Did they elaborate on why it would cost so much?

 

[BosDevelop]

Really? Did they elaborate on why it would cost so much?

"Preservation issues" according to this Herald article which is where I saw the build out for this cost "over a million bucks" http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20220923royal_sandwiches_will_gethub_treatment

Royal’ sandwiches will get Boston treatment
By Donna Goodison

Sunday, September 23, 2012 - Updated 4 weeks ago

Boston will get a noble take on sandwiches when a new restaurant opens next month in an improbable location: a former Boston Common restroom facility known as the Pink Palace.

The British-inspired Earl of Sandwich chain has converted the octagon-shaped building into a take-out restaurant with outdoor seating and a menu that includes its signature hot sandwiches and wraps, salads, soups and other items.

Robert Earl, chairman of the 8-year-old Orlando-based company and the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood International, sees the location as a catalyst for expansion in Boston.

“The brand exposure from being on Boston Common is phenomenal,” said Earl, who has been looking at other potential Hub locations this weekend. “There can easily be four or five.”

Earl also hopes to land some Mass Pike locations for Earl of Sandwich, whose first Boston eatery, a franchise unit at Logan International Airport, opened in 2009.

The company had hoped to have the Boston Common restaurant ready for customers by the end of August, but preservation issues put the project behind schedule.

“The building has been disused for so long, that the more work you did on it, the more problems you found, but we’ve dealt with every single one of them,” Earl said. “We’ve spent a little bit extra money, but the place has come out beautifully.”

And Earl expects the over-budget job for the approximately 600-square-foot structure, vacant since the 1970s, will convince anyone wary of a restaurant operating from a former men’s “comfort station.”

“When you come and see what we’ve done — unless someone has distinct old memories of the space — it would not be apparent,” he said. “We spent over a million bucks restoring it, which on a per-square-foot basis is probably more than Cartier or Tiffany spends on their spaces.”

-— dgoodison@bostonherald.com