The Newbry (formerly New England Life Building)

Another Borders? God I hated to see Waterstones go...I've got a soft spot for those Brits.
 
Handsome building.

The cornerstone at Berkeley and Boylston streets says there was an addition built in 1961; does anyone know what was added?

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It is amazing how old these buildings are yet they look like they are brand new, and the architecture looks new as well. Houses show their age.
 
Oh man, those two old buildings at the bottom are so beautiful. They were replaced with modern crap. So Boston.
 
Van, I may be mistaken, but I believe our pal Ron Druker owns the shit-show that replaced the old beauty on the corner.
 
A "Now" update. Bottom one is up the street at corner of Dartmouth.

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The north side of Copley Sq has such potential. Seeing what used to be there breaks my heart. The sidewalk along Boylston St is one of the best walking experiences in the city but anything of value seems to be replaced by gawd awful boxes. I honestly don't blame the BBNA for being as crazy as they are some times.
 
Potential? What would you do with it?
 
Demolish that building with the Citizens Bank in it, for starters.
 
MonopolyBag said:
It is amazing how old these buildings are yet they look like they are brand new, and the architecture looks new as well. Houses show their age.
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Good point, It will be intersting to see some of those cheaply (and ugly) built buildings 50+years from now, guaranteed they wont look as good as the Newbry or buildings like it.
 
The Borders store in this building will close by April as a result of Borders' Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Also closing is the equally new Borders at Wayside Commons in Burlington.
 
Ron Newman said:
Borders, Citibank to open branches at The Newbry

Leases offer more signs that Boylston Street's retail cachet is on rise

By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | July 20, 2006

Borders bookstore and Citibank are the latest high-profile tenants to sign on to The Newbry building in the Back Bay, joining Filene's Basement and Swedish retailer H&M.
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That sure worked out well, didn't it.
 
Ron Newman said:
That sure worked out well, didn't it.
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Ron -- the failures had nothing to do with Boyston or Boston -- those all were chains on the financial fringe which couldn't hack the changing retail environment and the recent recression / stagnation


Boylston continues to be a very desireable place for retail as does the Back Bay for offices
 
whighlander said:
Ron -- the failures had nothing to do with Boyston or Boston -- those all were chains on the financial fringe which couldn't hack the changing retail environment and the recent recression / stagnation


Boylston continues to be a very desireable place for retail as does the Back Bay for offices
Click to expand...

You raise a very interesting point here, about how vulnerable business districts are to trends external to our region when chains show up. Boston and Boylston street can support stores like these, but we lose them anyway due to what happens in places like Jacksonville and Las Vegas. The supposed benefit behind the national chain is economy of scale providing better prices (or experience) to the consumer. How does this benefit measure against the damage of the now vacated store fronts?
 
Borders and FB failed because they left the cities and opened up gigantic stores in bizarre suburbs nationwide, mostly notably FB in NJ. I strongly believe that if both had stayed in the big cities, they would still be alive and thriving.
 
datadyne007 said:
Borders and FB failed because they left the cities and opened up gigantic stores in bizarre suburbs nationwide, mostly notably FB in NJ. I strongly believe that if both had stayed in the big cities, they would still be alive and thriving.
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Data -- Amazon made Borders model unsustainable -- they had a chance to retool into something else - a city-based center for multimedia, posters, art books, etc with a nice, confortable, cafe-style environment -- a sort of Starbucks with books, music, video, etc.

But Borders didn't do anything except try to expand in the suburbs still selling books, audio and video on plastic with a small, 2nd thought cafe -- they didn't have Barnes and Noble's the on-line sales component and deep connections with the publishers to get good discounts -- they were doomed
 
whighlander said:
Data -- Amazon made Borders model unsustainable -- they had a chance to retool into something else - a city-based center for multimedia, posters, art books, etc with a nice, confortable, cafe-style environment -- a sort of Starbucks with books, music, video, etc.
Click to expand...

I think they had it (or were very close). The Boston and Chicago Borders were wildly popular. I think they should have nixed the suburban model (because those people are the ones shopping online anyway) and expanded the website services to serve them.

By the way, this just reminded me that CambridgeSide has a large vacancy now too.
 
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