The New Retail Thread

Suffolk 83 said:
That place sucked...
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It's okay, but too expensive for my taste. A lot of people like it, though (although not enough to keep them in business, apparently).

I know it bounced back from the Marathon Bombing, and that inspires awe in some people, but Forum definitely seems like so many other trendy bar/restaurants in that stretch of the Back Bay (not all of which I've been to): City Table/Bar, Back Bay Social Club, Stephanie's on Newbury, each with varying degrees of faux-fanciness to appeal to their target demographic. I've heard good things of City Bar, Stephanie's has Newbury Street and great outdoor seating, and Back Bay Social Club has their old-time Manhattan shtick, but I feel like there was nothing drawing people in to Forum.
 
datadyne007 said:
Unbelievably sad news today. Forum has been rent-gouged out of their location on Boylston. The landlord TRIPLED their rent. Who the hell would rent-gouge a business that was destroyed (and re-built) in the Marathon Bombing?!
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Looked it up, the owner is Seven 55 Boylston LLC. Not very enlightening. To be fair, Boston Nightlife Ventures is a corporate entity that owns three other establishments, so it's not like this was one guy's dream business.
 
While tripling may seem like a lot (and it is), it's important to remember that commercial leases can often be 10+ years. If Boston Nightlife Ventures had a 10 year lease, a tripling corresponds to an 11% increase per year over the course of the lease. That seems to be in line with the market these days.

That being said I have no idea how long BNV's lease was, so this could be a moot point.
 
FenwayResident said:
While tripling may seem like a lot (and it is), it's important to remember that commercial leases can often be 10+ years. If Boston Nightlife Ventures had a 10 year lease, a tripling corresponds to an 11% increase per year over the course of the lease. That seems to be in line with the market these days.

That being said I have no idea how long BNV's lease was, so this could be a moot point.
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Not sure if NBV held the lease before Forum went in, but Forum was only there for 3 1/2 years, so it's hard to see how that could be the reason.
 
Whatever it was called before it was called Forum (Atrium? Agora? I know it was something ancient Greek) was there for a decade plus.
 
Yes! Vox Populi. That's it. I remember it was named Boston Magazine's Best Place to Form a Relationship of Limited Duration on some best-of-year list ~2005.
 
From today. Activity started some time last week. Also the Dunkin next door is gone.

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Davem, Why is this in New Retail - is this converting from garage to something else?
 
Does anyone know the history of that building? It's really peculiar... Was it always a garage?
 
Shepard said:
Davem, Why is this in New Retail - is this converting from garage to something else?
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It was mentioned a while ago; the first few floors are going retail, with the upper floors remaining parking. I speculated whether the automobile access would continue of Newbury, or if it would only be through the alley in the back. I can't remember the exact details of who is moving in, but I think they have a tenant.


meddlepal said:
Does anyone know the history of that building? It's really peculiar... Was it always a garage?
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There are (were) pictures in the office of when the building went up, always a garage. As a bit of history, this end of Newbury was mostly carriage houses and stables, not residential like the rest of the back bay. So a garage built in the early auto era made sense here.
 
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