The Aubrey | 149-153 Newbury Street | Back Bay

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Newbury Street’s arrivals for the new year, and more retail news​


A Google retail store, one of few anywhere in the country, will open in the spring of 2024 at Newbury and Dartmouth streets. There are only three such stores in the world today: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Mountain View, California, just down the street from the company's headquarters.


“A Google retail store, one of few anywhere in the country, will open in the spring of 2024 at Newbury and Dartmouth streets. There are only three such stores in the world today: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Mountain View, California, just down the street from the company's headquarters.”


Alo Yoga is opening soon in a rare new-construction building on Newbury Street, at the former of Dartmouth Street. It'll be the company's third Boston location, following one in the Seaport and another at the Prudential Center.


“Alo Yoga is opening soon in a rare new-construction building on Newbury Street, at the former of Dartmouth Street. It'll be the company's third Boston location, following one in the Seaport and another at the Prudential Center.”


https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2024/01/01/newbury-street-s-arrivals-for-the-new-year.html
 
Arenacale said:
Personal preference here, but I hate that vertical brick layout.
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Same. I get that the masonry no longer plays a role in supporting the building, but whenever I see it like this, I can't help but think about early lego brick frustrations from before I learned to stagger the bricks in order to make stable walls.
 
I wonder how these stores will do. When there is already so much of a Google presence in everyone’s lives already, will people like this idea? To me, this is another example of the Amazon Bookstore — wipe out bookstores everywhere with your online presence and then suddenly open one. Guilty corporate conscience?
 
bdurden said:
I wonder how these stores will do. When there is already so much of a Google presence in everyone’s lives already, will people like this idea? To me, this is another example of the Amazon Bookstore — wipe out bookstores everywhere with your online presence and then suddenly open one. Guilty corporate conscience?
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Correct me if I'm wrong - - this store will not be competing with bookshops, but with chain stores that sell "cutting-edge phones and tablets to earbuds and watches". I may be wrong, but it doesn't seem to be replacing Ma and Pa Retired Teacher.
 
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Have the pleasure of visiting this building today. It’s substantially complete and undergoing tenant fit outs. Note the the first floor tenant is not Google it’s a clothing store. Took a photo of the brickwork cause I wanted to show that it’s pretty decent. The only weird thing is that the prodigious back bay setback looks very weird without outdoor dining, a typical building here is set above or below street level and has a garden and a staircase, which obviously no longer flies with ADA so instead we have a concrete slab.
 
I think the Google store is just a bit further west down Newbury and only has a small portion of the total first floor. You can see a bit of the logo in your first pic.

Pretty solid infill, and somehow the stacked brick works, which normally looks 70s/80s drab. Not particularly inspiring, but hey better than a parking lot. Curious who the lucky office tenant are on the higher floors.
 
Justbuildit said:
I think the Google store is just a bit further west down Newbury and only has a small portion of the total first floor. You can see a bit of the logo in your first pic.

Pretty solid infill, and somehow the stacked brick works, which normally looks 70s/80s drab. Not particularly inspiring, but hey better than a parking lot. Curious who the lucky office tenant are on the higher floors.
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I wish I knew! And good call on the Google store just found it
 
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Longfellow said:
View attachment 51902View attachment 51907

Have the pleasure of visiting this building today. It’s substantially complete and undergoing tenant fit outs. Note the the first floor tenant is not Google it’s a clothing store. Took a photo of the brickwork cause I wanted to show that it’s pretty decent. The only weird thing is that the prodigious back bay setback looks very weird without outdoor dining, a typical building here is set above or below street level and has a garden and a staircase, which obviously no longer flies with ADA so instead we have a concrete slab.
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When they first installed the sidewalk they put in these weird pebble boulders (zoom bottom left of this image), I'm guessing they just ended up being a tripping hazard. The renders below envisioned them being used as seating.
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Some nice extra-wide benches would go a long way here. I was looking for somewhere to sit while I was there and found nothing.

It also seems like the concrete finishes shown in the render are substantially worse than what's there, but hey, its concrete.
 
The render below was when it could have "swung away" instead of bunting.


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I actually like what we got better but thats just my opinion. I like that it isnt trying too hard to be new and glassy or fancy, and it also isnt trying too hard to look like it was built in the 1800s. It just looks like a building that was recently built but blends in well and belongs on newbury street. These days apparently thats a lot harder to do than it seems. More buildings should be cool with just blending in vs everything needing to stand out and be different imo.
 
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