Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Nice in the sense that it's new, modern and smells like a new car. But otherwise, sterile and underwhelming from what it was supposed to be...

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I recently toured a bunch of ultra-high-end Miami homes on one of those gated islands with a friend that does real estate there. Think $15M, $20M+ homes.
They all were either new or heavily updated and they all looked like the lobby of this building. Beige, taupe, matte metals, and some concrete. Throw in a 60-inch Wolf range and double ovens in the kitchen and you are all set.
 
A Food Hall Is Coming to the Winthrop Center in Downtown Boston

Another food hall is on the way to Boston, and this one will be in the heart of the city.
Based on information from a licensing board hearing page within the city's website and a post within the jobs section of bostonchefs.com, the Winthrop Center in downtown Boston is getting a food hall, and it will include a sandwich/coffee shop called Day Shift along with at least several other spots such as Ariana, Big Grin, Iris Mezze, and Gatto Pazzo. It appears that Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur John Fraser and his JF Restaurants hospitality group will be behind some--if not all--of the dining options at the food hall, and Fraser is also behind Winnie's, an upscale residents-only restaurant and bar within the Winthrop Center (the food hall will be open to all).
bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com

Boston Restaurant Talk

A news-based journal on the Boston restaurant scene. The owner of this blog is also the founder of <a href="http://www.hiddenboston.com"><u>Boston's Hidden Restaurants</u></a>, a website that focuses on local dining spots.
bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com bostonrestaurants.blogspot.com
 
I'm sure this will be a nice addition, but I can't lie that I'm a little tired of these expensive food courts. If I'm spending all this money, I don't wanna feel like I'm at the Emerald Sq. mall...at least they had a carousel.
 
DAVE said:
I'm sure this will be a nice addition, but I can't lie that I'm a little tired of these expensive food courts. If I'm spending all this money, I don't wanna feel like I'm at the Emerald Sq. mall...at least they had a carousel.
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There's always the Corner Mall.
 
I appreciate they are trying to activate the space but this is a terrible idea- High street place is close by and underperforms
 
Suffolk 83 said:
I appreciate they are trying to activate the space but this is a terrible idea- High street place is close by and underperforms
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I have the opposite opinion. FiDi needs to become a destination with tons of reasons to go there. Restaurants and businesses thrive in clusters.

If a neighborhood is a ghost town and it has one dying business, that business will simply finish dying. We need to pump as much lighter fluid on FiDi until it eventually takes off. One smoldering coal at a time won't do it.

I mean, you're right, this is a terrible financial choice for this new venture. But if the city can get enough businesses to make terrible choices together, the public wins (and some of the businesses survive).
 
DAVE said:
I'm sure this will be a nice addition, but I can't lie that I'm a little tired of these expensive food courts. If I'm spending all this money, I don't wanna feel like I'm at the Emerald Sq. mall...at least they had a carousel.
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It does sound expensive, but I'm not sure it will be any more expensive than the Boston Public Market or Quincy Market in reality...
 
I’m sure that this food court will be full of local establishments, exactly as promised, right? Let’s see, why don’t I Google this “John Fraser” guy…
 
Suffolk 83 said:
Anecdotal
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I'm not a regular by any means, but the several times I visited High Street Place on a weekday summer evening, it was absolutely packed. One time, people had badges from some convention or work-related event, and they were swarming all over the place. :)
 
I've also been there on a Friday night around 5ish and I've seen it also be pretty dead there. So I can see where Suffolk 83 is coming from.
 
Equilibria said:
If it's packed for weekday lunch in this WFH era, isn't that a success to build from?
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Looking at their events page, it seems pretty obvious that HSP is very aggressively targeting non-office worker demographics. Look how many of their events start post-5 pm. Check out their Instagram page too--do any of those featured individuals convey "office worker" messaging?

Anyway, it's worth pointing out how many very wealthy neighborhoods are within a 15-minute WALK of HSP: DTX obviously, but also Leather District, eastern Back Bay, West End, Waterfront, Beacon Hill, etc.... and, probably most crucially, the Seaport.

In regards to the latter, whatever HSP suffered from opening post-pandemic, I imagine a fair amount was compensated for by opening after the full build-out of the Seaport and its many 1000s of wealthy residents. As late as say, 2010, if HSP had been open, its Seaport residents-derived business would be big fat nothing.
 
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