Menino says push to bring retailers back to Back Bay is working
By Bonnie Kavoussi
Globe Correspondent / July 9, 2010
Forty-five new businesses in the Back Bay are proof the city?s efforts to lure stores to the tony retail district have been successful, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday.
Thirty retailers, from the Ibex outdoor clothier to the women?s store Forever 21, have opened in the Back Bay since last July, when the mayor hosted a walking tour for businesses. And 15 more businesses, including restaurants and stores, have signed leases or are under construction, from a pet supply shop to a new location for the Boloco burrito chain.
The mayor said all those new enterprises have created about 500 jobs.
?People are bringing business here,?? Menino said yesterday after he spoke to a group of about 60 retail owners, landlords, and brokers in the Back Bay at Louis Boston?s vacant storefront.
The mayor has been trying to entice businesses to the shopping district, while promising capital improvements on Newbury Street, including replacing all trash barrels and 171 street lamps, from Arlington Street to Massachusetts Avenue.
The lamp project, which starts late next month, will cost about $300,000, said Katie Ward, a spokeswoman for Menino.
The mayor has also said he would like to close Newbury Street to cars for a couple of days this summer.
Menino plans to take about 75 New England retail owners, brokers, and landlords on a tour of Downtown Crossing, the Greenway, and the South Boston Waterfront on Tuesday ? before the International Conference of Shopping Centers? New England Idea Exchange meeting ? said Jessica Shumaker, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
But the tour will bypass the Back Bay because city officials view their initiative there as successful, she said.
?I think it?s very important that the mayor continues to set this pace and this tone that Boston is business-friendly,?? said the president of the City Council, Michael P. Ross, who represents the Back Bay.
Most of the new businesses in the neighborhood will be located on Newbury Street, with others opening on Massachusetts Avenue and on Boylston and Dartmouth streets.
The openings have boosted Newbury Street?s occupancy rate to 94.7 percent ? a significant increase from about 80 percent in the beginning of 2009, said Michael Jammen, principal at Meritage Real Estate Group.
?Quite a few retailers tell me business is doing really well,?? said Tom Brennan, vice president of C. Talanian Realty Co., which owns and manages about 30 properties on Newbury Street.
Retailers said they are seeing more customers in the Back Bay but still face challenges.
?Newbury Street was especially difficult in 2009, but since mid-January, it?s like someone turned a bunch of light switches on,?? said John Pepper, chief executive of Boloco, which will open a new restaurant at 569 Boylston St. in October.
Kathy Palmer, who will soon open The Fish and Bone, an ?urban pet supplies?? store, at 217 Newbury St., said she is optimistic about opening up in the Back Bay. ?I was just blown away by the number of people that walk up and down Newbury Street,?? she said.
Bonnie Kavoussi can be reached at
bkavoussi@globe.com.
