Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

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dotdude78 said:
Chill the fuck out dude. Sorry I don't read every comment of all the threads all the time.

I still think it's odd that the mist high-end building in recent history is going to house a $5 t-shirt mill. But that's just my opinion.
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That's a bit much. Seems to be you that needs to chill out. Nothing in my post was inflammatory. I was simply explaining to you the reasoning behind Old Navy.

Look I don't particularly like Old Navy as a brand and would have preferred something else, but it fits the DTX demographic.

It's going to house a fancy Japanese restaurant IIRC too.
 
datadyne007 said:
Yes. Old Navy. It was announced earlier and its clearly in the signage in the photos above.

Said this a million times in this thread & the DTX thread. DTX has been where "the common man has gone to shop" for a century from Filenes Basement to Jordans Basement to Woolworths to Marshalls to TJX to H&M to Primark to the GAP Outlet & now Old Navy. The luxury retail can stay on Newbury & in Copley Place. The affordable down-market retail will keep DTX a vibrant active place filled with people.
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Thanks. Agreed 100%.

I'm not sure what all the fuss and/or surprise is about. We're not New York or San Francisco, but there's plenty of the same level of retail along Powell Street in San Francisco's Union Square neighborhood which is home to multi-million dollar condos. 1600 Broadway near Times Square has multi-million dollar condos as well as a GNC and Best Buy Mobile on the ground floor. Old, established urban retail districts in city centers will continue to be established retail districts even if there are residences going in above. Boston has a ton of high end retail. Downtown Crossing will remain a shopping district for the everyman because in spite of the fact that there are a few hundred wealthy and uber-wealthy residents living there, there are thousands of everymen and women arriving in the neighborhood on foot, in their cars, by bus, or by subway. Until that changes, you'll see stores in the neighborhood that cater to all walks. It's not unique to Boston nor is it surprising.
 
statler said:
Is Old Navy really a step below Target in terms of price/quality? I always thought of them as on par.

That said, Target would obviously offer a much wider selection of goods.

I kind of wish Costco would open some sort of offspring non-warehouse retail chain.
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Old Navy only has clothing sized for the small & boutique, you know, for those who are petite. it does not sell clothing for medium or large people.

I don't even go in there, because for me, it's a definite waste of time. The trick here is that these stores often cater to the highly expensive elite clientele. Hence the reason why I don't shop for clothes in Downtown Crossing. Only for Adidas sneakers.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Old Navy only has clothing sized for the small & boutique, you know, for those who are petite. it does not sell clothing for medium or large people.
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Are you talking about the right store? They have mens in sizes up to XXL, jeans up to 46 waist.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Old Navy only has clothing sized for the small & boutique, you know, for those who are petite. it does not sell clothing for medium or large people.

I don't even go in there, because for me, it's a definite waste of time. The trick here is that these stores often cater to the highly expensive elite clientele. Hence the reason why I don't shop for clothes in Downtown Crossing. Only for Adidas sneakers.
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Errr, 1) No Old Navy caters to pretty much any size, and 2) the entire point is that the store in DTX don't cater to expensive stores, they cater to the lower end.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Old Navy only has clothing sized for the small & boutique, you know, for those who are petite.....
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This isn't true across the board, but I was in there recently for a sale and understand your sentiment. For instance, many of the shorts styles only went up to a 33" waist. I need to cut out some meals before I go back to an Old Navy.
 
The whole area is a weird mix...it's like homeless addicts and millionaires.

There's not even a decent place to hang out on the stretch.

Scholars and Walgreens/ sweet green / Paul bakery etc is a good mix...primark is decent bc it's bright and exciting...but all those jewelry stores with pigeon shit all over the place, corner mall, rainbow, tired Macy's and vacant Barnes makes me want to run away.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Old Navy only has clothing sized for the small & boutique, you know, for those who are petite. it does not sell clothing for medium or large people.

I don't even go in there, because for me, it's a definite waste of time. The trick here is that these stores often cater to the highly expensive elite clientele. Hence the reason why I don't shop for clothes in Downtown Crossing. Only for Adidas sneakers.
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I am 6'5" 215lbs and Old Navy fits me fine... I'm curious what your definition of "medium" is?
 
617 said:
The whole area is a weird mix...it's like homeless addicts and millionaires.

There's not even a decent place to hang out on the stretch.

Scholars and Walgreens/ sweet green / Paul bakery etc is a good mix...primark is decent bc it's bright and exciting...but all those jewelry stores with pigeon shit all over the place, corner mall, rainbow, tired Macy's and vacant Barnes makes me want to run away.
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I think the same thing all the time. Lots of great places, but lots of places that need to go as well. Corner Mall/Rainbow need to go. Macy's desperately needs a renovation. Barnes and Noble should either be broken up into smaller retail spaces or a big tenant needs to be found.

I think it would really help if they installed some restaurants with big open windows and patio seating here. You're right, there aren't many great places to hang out.
 
617 said:
There's not even a decent place to hang out on the stretch.
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I think the plaza in front of MT is going to try to be this. Hence the "steps" atop the T headhouse.

But the stretch would benefit greatly from even more. Maybe turn the old Barnes and Noble into a large indoor/outdoor shared space - a "great hall" of sorts, lined with a few vendors and with plenty of cafe-style tables, and maybe a 3-season open-air glass facade that can be closed in the winter.
 
That would require that the B&N building landlord to pull their head out of their ass but it seems that they are enjoying the view.
 
statler said:
That would require that the B&N building landlord to pull their head out of their ass but it seems that they are enjoying the view.
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Time for some "pressure" from Mr. Walsh? Or is that not happening because the Mayor's office is being extra cautious in light of the criminal indictments of his staff members?
 
I'd rather see something along those lines for the corner mall. A simple Nordstrom rack or Neiman Marcus last call would do very well at Barnes...there's plenty of other storefronts for new bars restraurants on summer, Franklin and further down Washington.

It would be cool if half of Franklin near 85 franklin was reclaimed from cars into an outdoor tables/ chairs/plaza/beer garden like Times Square.
 
And to think I wasn't going to post that pic because I was more concern about the dirty Windows lol
 
Began my day here and ended it here http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpswjbymjcj.jpeg[/IMG][/URL]
 
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This morning.

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BosDevelop said:
Time for some "pressure" from Mr. Walsh? Or is that not happening because the Mayor's office is being extra cautious in light of the criminal indictments of his staff members?
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There was plenty of pressure from the previous regime; I recall reading Herald stories where the B&N ownership lashed out at the Menino-led BRA for being fascists and having no concept of respecting private property rights. I don't see how any "pressure" as you describe could lead to anything other than a similarly embarrassing and petty public spat. Just what do you propose, anyway--a press conference in front of the property? I mean, get real.

Anyway, just sit back, relax, and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the B&N closure/vacancy, ha! So much positive transformation all around the old B&N space; when that finally gets sold/re-tenanted, it will be that much sweeter given that everything else surrounding has gotten so much better in the past half-decade.
 
DBM said:
There was plenty of pressure from the previous regime; I recall reading Herald stories where the B&N ownership lashed out at the Menino-led BRA for being fascists and having no concept of respecting private property rights. I don't see how any "pressure" as you describe could lead to anything other than a similarly embarrassing and petty public spat. Just what do you propose, anyway--a press conference in front of the property? I mean, get real.

Anyway, just sit back, relax, and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the B&N closure/vacancy, ha! So much positive transformation all around the old B&N space; when that finally gets sold/re-tenanted, it will be that much sweeter given that everything else surrounding has gotten so much better in the past half-decade.
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If you replace the word "pressure" with the word "partnering," then the whole conversation changes. Pressuring is ugly. Partnering is nice.

That said, I agree with the others that there are other parcels on this stretch perhaps better suited for adding a public realm.
 
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