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

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Re: Filene's

N.Y. firm to nab 17 Filene?s Basement stores for $22M
A buyer is in the basement

By Donna Goodison | Tuesday, May 5, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets

Photo by Will Nunnally
Filene?s Basement filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday for the second time in a decade.

But the off-price chain has already lined up a buyer for 17 of its 25 stores including the Newton and Back Bay locations, plus the lease for the original Downtown Crossing store that?s currently closed.

New York?s Crown Acquisitions, with the Chetrit Group as its partner, has bid $22 million for the stores, which it would continue operating under the Basement name. Its offer will be considered as part of an upcoming court auction during which competing bids for the Burlington-based chain?s stores and assets will be fielded.

?It?s a good opportunity to have a rejuvenated company with new management,? said Alan Cohen, the Basement?s chief restructuring officer. All stores will continue operating in the meantime.

The storied chain, known for its automatic markdown system at Downtown Crossing and annual ?Running of the Brides,? was started by Edward Filene in 1909 to sell excess merchandise from Filene?s, his father?s full-price department store upstairs.

Its bankruptcy filing came two weeks after former owner Retail Ventures Inc., which purchased the chain out of bankruptcy in 2000, offloaded it to an affiliate of the Buxbaum Group, a California turnaround and liquidation firm.

The Basement, which posted $422 million in sales and a $53 million operating loss for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, listed $182 million in debt and $83.3 million in assets in its bankruptcy filing.

Disappointing sales at more recently opened suburban locations hurt the chain, and the economic recession put further pressure on its cash flow, Mark Shulman, president of Filene?s Basement, said in court documents.

The Downtown Crossing store?s closing in 2007 to make way for a now-stalled $700 million redevelopment project also eliminated volume efficiencies and a location to clear out older inventory. The location accounted for about 13 percent of Basement sales, and the chain had been receiving $500,000 monthly payments from developer Vornado Realty Trust to compensate for its closing. But those payments stopped without notice in January, court documents state.

Vornado did not return calls for comment.

Basement stores in Braintree, Hyannis, Peabody, Saugus and Watertown aren?t included in Crown?s bid. And in the current retail environment, it?s unlikely another buyer will make a better offer, said Andy Moser, of Cairos Capital Partners. Remaining stores? merchandise likely would be consolidated into ongoing stores or liquidated through closing sales, he said.

At the Watertown store yesterday, an 11-year employee said many workers were worried about losing their jobs.

At least one shopper was ambivalent about the store?s possible closing. ?If I go (to the Basement), I usually go to Newton,? the Belmont woman said. ?They have more brand names there. At this one, I can?t find anything.?

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1170159
 
Re: Filene's

Banker & Tradesman - May 5, 2008
Filene's Redevelopment Plan Redeveloped, Residential Reincorporated

By Paul McMorrow

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Today

1franklinnew.jpg


Developer John B. Hynes III has begun shopping a taller, cheaper plan for One Franklin St. in Boston's Downtown Crossing, re-incorporating residential development and halving the proposed office space in what is now the third iteration of the stalled project's design.

The latest version of One Franklin is a 38-story mixed-use tower, Hynes told Banker & Tradesman. That's taller than the 32 stories Hynes and his development partner, Vornado Realty Trust, proposed in December, and just shy of the 39 stories for which the tower was originally permitted.

The new version also puts residential back in play. It slices the project's office space component in half, to 300,000 square feet from 600,000, replacing the lost office space with 250 luxury residential units. Most of those units will be rental, Hynes said, though a few will be condominiums.

The new plans have yet to be filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority. But Hynes believes that this version of the One Franklin tower will be able to attract the financing that has eluded his team since last fall.

Hynes had previously jettisoned the project's residential component. He said that large national banks were refusing to lend to any residential project, and that residential was making the project virtually un-financeable.

Two things have made the residential turnaround possible. The tower now calls for a majority of rental units, which are more attractive to banks than condominiums. Secondly, Hynes said banks are beginning to realize that, once the economy begins climbing upward, the current construction freeze may leave many markets with a shortage of residential units.

Despite the building's height, smaller floor plates and plummeting construction costs mean that this new proposal carries the lightest price tag - $450 million - than either of the previous two proposals. The first two clocked in at $700 million and $525 million, respectively. The project's retail and hotel uses have remained unchanged since the fall.
 
Re: Filene's

This building got much fatter and stumpier. Don't really like it.
 
Re: Filene's

Either the rendering is awkward, or this is going to be the widest tower in the city...
 
Re: Filene's

Statler beat me to it! His renderings do clear things up.
 
Re: Filene's

Is it my imagination or are they being coy about the piece that will go over the Washington/Summer St corner?
 
Re: Filene's

I'm happy to see residences in there once more. Let's get this built already.

I don't think anything goes over the Washington/Summer corner. The Filene's facade will remain intact.
 
Re: Filene's

Oh, and now we are looking at 2011. :mad:

Scheduled for completion in 2011, the project will integrate the historic Filene's building designed by Daniel Burnham in 1912 with a contemporary 32-story tower. Designed by Elkus Manfredi, this exciting mixed-use project has received LEED Silver pre-certification.
 
Re: Filene's

Lets look at the evolution:

First
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Second
filenetower1ug8.jpg


Third
img_detail_franklin4.jpg



Yep, that's value engineering at its finest.
 
Re: Filene's

Duh, Mike is right.

The Gale site hasn't been updated yet. The paragraph I pulled off the site even says 32-story tower and I never caught it. :eek:

My bad.

Thanks Mike!
 
Re: Filene's

If this actually happens, I think having the hole in the ground for a while is worth the return of residential in this project, though I may be alone here.
 
Re: Filene's

I hope the project can be staged so that the new owner of Filene's Basement can quickly move in even while construction continues above.
 
Re: Filene's

What would be a good department store on the first few levels of retail? Best Buy? Shaws?
 
Re: Filene's

What would be a good department store on the first few levels of retail? Best Buy? Shaws?

How about bringing back the MOM & PA style shops or something different ...........If I wanted Best Buy, Shaws, Apple Bees, Fridays, I would have moved to the Mid-West. Stripmall Central. Hopefully Boston does not lose its uniqueness and this is the vision from these CLOWNS.
 
Re: Filene's

How about bringing back the MOM & PA style shops or something different ...........If I wanted Best Buy, Shaws, Apple Bees, Fridays, I would have moved to the Mid-West. Stripmall Central. Hopefully Boston does not lose its uniqueness and this is the vision from these CLOWNS.

I totally agree. If they really want DTX to be UNIQUE, they should create lots of SMALL retail spaces. Those are the types of spaces that are conducive to locally owned businesses. There are already big open retail spaces that aren't being filled by big national chains. :):cough:: Barnes and Noble ::cough::)
 
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