Starbucks Coming Down Wednesday; Disruptions To Cushing Sq. Traffic

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The work is underway at the newly dubbed Bradford in Cushing Square.

The Starbucks Cafe has closed and the Trapelo Raod is about to be dug up as the developer of the Cushing Vill … The Bradford prepares to move forward with excuvation and infrastructure work at the 167,000 sq.-ft. residential/retail/parking complex.

Otto Weiss, project manager for Toll Brothers Apartment Living who is building the development told the Belmontonian on Tuesday, June 7, construction is “on schedule” and, weather permitting, the foundation for the Winslow – the first of three buildings on the site located at the former municipal parking lot adjacent Trapelo Road – will be poured in early August. 

He also said the company will officially take possession of the now closed Starbuck’s cafe on Monday, June 12 and the building – which was constructed as a Friendly’s restaurant in the 1970s – will be razed starting on Wednesday, June 14. 

In preparation to the demolision, “[o]n Monday (June 12) we will relocate site fencing that runs behind Starbucks to the curb at Trapelo Road and tie it into the fence running from the corner of Common Street,” said Weiss in a press release sent on Friday, June 9. 

The side walk between Williston and Common Street along Trapelo road on the project side will be close to pedestrian traffic and signage will be installed instructing pedestrians to cross the street at Williston Road and Common Street.  

All utility cut offs will be performed on Monday, June 12, weather permitting, which will require utility crews with trucks working in the street. Police details will start at 7 a.m. on Monday.

The utility shut-offs should not affect service to the surrounding community, said Weiss.

“However the various utility companies may inform you of shut offs need to accommodate their work. That would be out of our control. If we are notified of any suck shut offs we will pass the information along immediately,” he said.

Shhhhhh! Foodie’s Market Is Open In Belmont Center

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Open for business.

Pssst. Keep this under your hat, but …

Foodie’s Market is open for business. 

Just a little more than two years ago when it first announced plans to place a store in the former Macys’/Filenes’ location on Leonard Street in Belmont Center, the South End-based supermarket chain opened its doors, albeit quietly, on Wednesday afternoon, May 10.

For Christina Hooley, the assistant store manager of the fourth Foodie’s in Greater Boston, it’s exciting to finally have customers and staff in the store located at 87 Leonard St. 

“We are happy to be open, but we aren’t making a big announcement. This is really a ‘quiet’ opening,” said Hooley, opening five days before the upcoming weeklong Grand Opening celebration beginning Monday, May 15 and lasting until Town Day, May 20. 

While customers were moving between rows of produce, fruit, meats and the freshly-made meal counters Thursday morning, there were workers with ladders and tools doing final repairs and installations as cashiers and staff continued to bring in product to the store.

Foodie’s has released its Opening Week schedule of tastings and events:

Monday, May 15, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.:

  • Deano Pasta – Ravioli and Sause
  • Farmer Willie’s Craft Ginger Beer

Wednesday, May 17, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.:

  • Andrea Alexander from Giannoni Selection Wines

Thursday, May 18, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.:

  • Indaba Wines
  • Eric Spitz from Baystate Wine
  • SABRA FOODS – Middle Eastern food

Friday, May 19:

  • 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.: SID WAINER- Bacon, Chicken Sausage, Cheese
  • Noon – 4 p.m.: YANKEE TRADER – Seafood Appetizers
  • 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.: FOOD MATCH – Olive/Wine/Cheese 
  • 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Casey Gruttadauria from Ideal Wine & Spirits

Saturday, May 20 (Belmont Town Day)

 

  • Outside giveaways: KIND BARS, POLAR SELTZERS
  • FOOD MATCH: Wella Bars, Fig Spread, Cheese
  • 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Dave Bove from Vineyard Brands

So Long, Cushing Village; Say Hello to ‘The Bradford’

By 5 Comments

Photo: Otto Weiss, the “Bradford’s” project manager.

A sly smile crossed Bill Lovett’s face like he had a secret he wanted so badly to tell.

So he did.

Lovett, a senior development manager at Toll’s Apartment Living which owns the 168,000 sq.-ft. apartment/retail/parking complex set to be built in the heart of Belmont’s Cushing Square told the 40 residents who flocked to the Belmont Gallery of Art on Thursday afternoon, April 27, came to hear the latest on the project, that a significant change had occurred in the development.

The name. Goodbye to Cushing Village, the moniker was first given the project nearly a decade ago by the project’s initial development team.

Welcome to Belmont: “The Bradford.”

“Like the pear or tree,” said Lovett, likely referring to the Bradford pear tree, the ornamental fruit tree known for its snowy white spring blossoms and sweet smell that lasts for a quite a long time.

“Hold your applause,” said Lovett, as the residents reacted rather nonplus to the announcement. 

Oh well.

Lovett, who was joined in the meeting by Otto Weiss, the project manager, and architect Peter Quinn, said the name change was proposed by the project’s marketing team to provide a new image to the project. 

Apparently, the marketing team didn’t know of the tree’s increasingly horrific reputation among garden club enthusiasts, city planners, and arborists, all who have increasingly come to hate the Bradford with a passion. As the New York Times noted last year, “Today, the Bradford pear may be the most despised tree in this part of the world.”

Apart from the name change, most of the news that came from the Toll Brothers team were updates on the construction of the three building project and minor alterations to the development.

Regarding development, Weiss told the audience that the excavation of the municipal parking lot adjacent to Starbucks and Trapelo Road would begin Monday, May 1 and last three to four weeks.

After the digging is finished, laying of the foundation for the retail/residential building known as the Winslow will begin. Simultaneously, the evacuation of the former CVS/First National site (dubbed the Hyland) will commence, said Weiss. That location will house a portion of the parking garage.

Currently, the project area, which has the appearance of a strip mine, is undergoing “dewatering” as the ground water is being decontaminated on the site before being released into the public system. The soil is also being treated and being sent to offsite locations. 

Once all the necessary regulatory “is are dotted and ts crossed” construction will begin in earnest with the Winslow being completed and ready for both residential and commercial occupancy in July/August of 2018. It will also be the new home of Starbucks, the only retail lease the firm has signed so far.

The Hyland is scheduled to be open in December 2018, with the centrally located Pomona building, which includes 20,000 sq.-ft. of retail, opening in June 2019. The development is expected to be fully occupied and all detail work finished by the first day of 2020.

(As an aside, Lovett said other than the Winslow, the names of the two other buildings could be given new names. “We didn’t want to call them Building 1,2,3. But there could be changes in Phase 2.”)

In other news concerning the Bradford:

  • The number of apartment units in the three buildings has been decreased from 115 to 112, and the total number of bedrooms have fallen by ten as the units have slightly increased in size in some locations. 
  • Changes have been made to exterior design features on each of the buildings – larger, more prominent windows, new material, removal of some architectural segments – “but we have not increased the size or scope of the building as noted in the Special Permit,” said Lovett.
  • The rooftop area on the Winslow has been removed, leaving only the Hyland to have a common area on its roof for residents. But don’t expect to see wild, 20-somethings partying hardy on the deck as “those elements” do “in Alewife or East Cambridge” noted Lovett. “It’s going to be a different feel” at the Bradford, “a more refined” lifestyle from a “different demographic.” 
  • The rents for units have not been set “as it will adjust to the market” with the opening of each building. 
  • Parking for construction workers will be provided off-site.
  • While it’s a certainty that Trapelo Road will need to be dug up to supply utilities to the project, all repair work to the roadway will be extensive including milling and resurfacing an entire segment of the street. 
  • When asked if bars or other alcohol-related businesses could go into the 34,000 sq.-ft. of retail space, Lovett said commercial areas are condominiums like the rental units and “we’re very restrictive on retail uses.” 
  • Yes, dogs and cats will be welcomed in Cushing Vil …. oops, The Bradford.

Toll Bros Update of Cushing Village Development Thursday, April 27

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Under construction.

The developer of the Cushing Village project now under construction in Cushing Square will hold a public meeting this week to provide residents an update on where the development is at and where it is going.

Toll Brothers Apartment Living, the apartment development division of Toll Brothers, Inc., the nation’s premier builder of luxury home, is hosting the meeting on Thursday, April 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Belmont Art Gallary on the third floor of the at the Homer Municipal Building

Toll Brother officials will discuss the status of the project and construction schedule. The Cushing Square project calls for construction of three mixed-use buildings, which will include retail space on the ground floor and 115 apartments above.

Cafe Society a la Belmont: ZBA OKs Eatery at Center’s New Bookstore

By 1 Comment

Photo: Chris Abouzeit (standing) and Kathy Crowley, owners of the Belmont Bookstore, before the ZBA

The famed “lost generation” of American artists and writers living in Paris in the 1920s – Hemingway, Stein, Eliot, Fitzgerald, Pound and Gershwin – would leave their dark and cold apartments and head to the lively bistro/bars on the Left Bank such as Le Dôme Café and Café de la Rotonde, drop a few centime for a coffee or brandy and spend hours reading, writing and creating a cafe society that would transform American literature.

While Belmont residents Chris Abouzeit and his wife, Kathy Crowley, the owners of the Belmont Bookstore – set to open in the next few weeks in the former Macy’s department store on Leonard Street in Belmont Center – aren’t anticipating to have the same impact on the literary landscape as what occurred 90 years ago in France, they will provide customers with a bit of the ambiance of the La Rive Gauche after the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously granted the pair a “fast food” licence to include a cafe in the store.

“We see this as a vibrant spot in the store,” said Abouzeit. 

The vote which took place early in April grants Abouzeit and Crowley the right to build a 1,000 sq.-ft. cafe in the 5,000 sq.-ft. store. The 17-seat eatery will serve “coffee shop” fare, none of which will be prepared at the location, said Abouzeit, who is an author and manager at the Porter Square Bookstore in Cambridge. 

The cafe will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. with one to two weekly deliveries taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trash will be put in a dumpster located on the Alexander Avenue side of the location provided by the landlord, Locatelli Properties.

After the vote, Abouzeit t0ld the Belmontonian the store should be “quietly” opening in the middle-or-end of May a few weeks after its neighbor, Foodies Urban Market. 

“We are looking at Town Day (this year on Saturday, May 20) but I’d like to open tomorrow. Everyone is excited that we will open the doors soon,” he said.

Crowley said the store would have special events for kids in June – a “Find Waldo” type event in partnership with the store’s other retail neighbor, The Toy Shop of Belmont.

The store will also host a series of author events, including talks by Crystal King, the author of the new novel (a late April release), “Feast of Sorrow” and “The Salt House” author Lisa Duffy (out in June) while the owners hope to have Sebastian Junger and Tom Perrotta in the store during the summer. 

“We are planning more events as we speak,” said Crowley.

Belmont Farmers Market Gets Town OK; Day Change To Be Discussed

By 2 Comments

Photo: Farmer Market Manager Suzanne Johannet (left) and Belmont Food Collabrative’s Anne Lougée before the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Monday, April 3. 

The Belmont Farmers Market will open for the 2017 season in Belmont Center after the Belmont Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a permit to its parent non-profit the Belmont Food Collaborative at the board’s public meeting on Monday, April 3.

The vote occurred a week after an attempt by the manager of the Center’s largest landlord to relocate the popular weekly market out of the Claflin Street municipal parking lot which has served as the home for Market Day in Belmont since its inception 12 years ago.

Approximately 50 market supporters who attended the meeting gave out an enthusiastic cheer after the selectmen cast its vote.

“I am so thrilled with the support from all the people who come out to shop at the Farmers Market,”said Dr. Suzanne Johannet, the Food Collaborative’s president and Farmers Market manager. She noted the level of support is not simply due to the produce and other products but that the market “provides a social experience that helps build communities and enhances life in Belmont.”

Unlike the previous meeting – which resulted in the vote being delayed a week – the encounter was far less combatative as all sides of the issue checked their emotions.

“I would have liked to have had a better tone, it was a late meeting,” said Kevin Foley, the manager of Locatelli Properties LLC which owns the former Macy’s buildling and most of the eastern side of the commercial block of Leonard Street,

Foley informed the board he and his team “wants to work with the Farmers Market … we are for the Farmers Market” and so would like to develop a plan in which the market was not be held on one of the most active shopping days of the week.

“Thursday is a very busy time,” Foley said, anticipating that many of the 200 parking spaces in the municipal lot will be occupied.

With six new business in the renovated Macy’s site preparing to open beginning in mid-May, the demand on the limited supply of parking spaces will hinder the new businesses ability to establish themselves and attract new customers.

Johannet said she finds it hard to imagine altering the long-standing traditional day for the market “on something that might turn out to be a problem which hasn’t been a problem for 12 years,” 

Johannet countered the market only requires 19 spaces for most of each Thursday and has never experienced any trouble finding parking on Market Day, supported by a 2011-12 town wide parking study showing between 60 – 100 free spaces in the lot on any given Thursday. 

All sides agreed that the market and landlord will return before the board after the end of the 2017 season in late October to review the parking issues. 

 

Cushing Village Update: Dig, Dig, Dig; Starbuck Around ’til July 4th?

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Diggin’ it in Cushing Square.

Dig this … which is exactly what construction crews are doing on the proposed site of Cushing Village, according to developer Toll Brothers.

In his monthly update, Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living division which is building the 168,000 square foot development in the heart of Cushing Square, said the project was on the ground as the site was being prepared for the building of the foundations for the three-building complex.

Current site activities include:

  • Moving dewatering equipment onto the location along Trapelo Road where they will begin the dewatering the soil on the week of April 3
  • The pavement in the former municipal parking lot and the foundations of the old buildings along Common Street has been removed.
  • Public comments and responses to the company’s Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan have been uploaded to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Next up for the project include:

  • Excavation and soil removal in the former parking lot will begin in a week or two.
  • Detailing the architectural plans continues during the coming months.
  • Foundation construction for the Winslow Building – located on the municipal lot –  will begin in the Spring.

As for the last tenant on site, Starbucks will remain open until late Spring/early Summer this year, according to Weiss. 

Largest Landlord Wants Farmers Market Out of Belmont Center

By 6 Comments

Photo: Kevin Foley before the Board of Selectmen.

It was supposed to be one of the dozens upon dozen perfunctory acts the Board of Selectmen performs ever year.

Before the board was representatives of the Belmont Food Collaborative, the folks who run the Belmont Farmers Market which is celebrating its 12th season in 2017. A popular public amenity, the farmers market has become a weekly attraction for families and foodies as well as countless Center’s workers who shop regularly for fresh produce, baked goods, and kitchen essentials.

The collaborative was seeking its annual town permit to run the market on Thursday afternoons from June to October in the rear of the town-owned parking lot behind Leonard Street in Belmont Center.

As the board’s agenda was running two hours behind its scheduled time, the selectmen appeared ready to give its blessing to the group after a few words of heartfelt success for the coming season.

Then in the nearly empty chamber, Kevin Foley, the manager of Locatelli Properties LLC – the largest landlord in Belmont Center which owns the commercial space along Leonard Street from Alexander Street to the crosswalk at Channing Road – came to the microphone and figuratively rolled a grenade into the meet and greet.

Delivering several copies of a petition with 22 signatures of business owners and store managers – nearly all tenants of his – Foley put it bluntly to the Selectmen: The Belmont Farmers Market has to go away from its long-time home in the Claflin Street Municipal Parking Lot. Now.

“It does not make sense to put a farmers market in a business community where it’s not supported,” said Foley, to the board which greeted his proclamation with bemused surprise.

And that lack of support was squarely placed on a reduction of limited parking opportunities in the municipal lot just as several large-scale businesses will be entering the Center in the next few months.

Saying the property owner has paid millions of dollars in property taxes while spending millions more on structural improvements to the former Macy’s location to attract its newest tenant, Foodies’ Urban Market “with the assurances that we would be improving parking.”

“What you’re doing [with this vote] is taking the busiest days and making it less convenient and hurt business,” said Foley.

Saying his tenant Foodies’ is “a direct competitor” with the farmers market, Foley said the supermarket’s first year in Belmont “is critical for them” to attract customers to the location. 

Insisting he wanted “immediate action” on his request, Foley told the board what the businesses want is for the Farmers Market is to “find a different location” in town, suggesting alternative spaces such as church and school parking lots.

“If the town really wants it, put it in the [Town Hall] parking lot,” he said.

“Belmont Center is not the right spot for it,” Foley told the board as the two collaborative representatives were left to hear its venture was suddenly seen as the red-headed stepchild to the business community.

Foley said for more than a year he received “assurances from different town officials that when Foodies’ opens this won’t be an issue,” naming the recently departed Town Administrator David Kale as that person. 

Parking has long been an issue in Belmont Center going back to when Filene’s’ department store anchored the retail community. Unlike commercial or strip malls, the parking lot is owned by the town with, what former selectmen believe, a two-fold purpose of supporting the businesses and residents.

Dr. Suzanne Johannet, the Food Collaborative president, told the board that an extensive search to find a suitable location was done by the group when the farmers market was initially proposed. Church properties were problematic due to services such as weddings, funerals, and meetings while schools could not be used from September onward. She noted that the market only requires 19 spaces for 21 afternoons in 2017. 

“This is a central location in town,” Johannet said. “We have great relations with the Belmont Center Business Association,” she said, adding that the collaborative has reached out to Foodies to work together to promote each other’s ventures.

While sympathetic to Foley’s complaint on parking, Selectman Chair Mark Paolillo said in the town’s view; the Farmers Market was a “quality of life issue for people” noting it could not be a success for 12 years if people did not support it.

“There’s no other place to put (the farmers market),” said Paolillo, who told Foley that the town would continue to push for a solution to the parking problem.

Here is where the conclave became fractious as Foley challenged Paolillo’s attempt to vote on the permit.

“You’re going to vote on that now?” pondered Foley which Paolillo quickly said yes, he would.

Foley countered that it only took him three hours to gather up the signatures of his tenants opposing the permit which Paolillo waved off saying that the farmers market attracted business to the center.

“There are several comments I’d like to make,” said Foley.

“You’ve already made them,” said Paolillo, as the large clock in the room struck 10 p.m.

“So you’re shutting me off?” asked Foley.

“I am, please,” said Paolillo.

It was then when Selectman Jim Williams, supported by Selectman Sami Baghdady, threw Foley and his immediate request a lifeline, asking to postpone a vote a week until Monday, April 3, as everyone talked over each other for a bit. Williams said he would review the comments from the businesses which signed the petition.

Foley told the Belmontonian after the meeting that the issue is not supported for the Farmers Market which Foley said he favors “but just not in a location that we have a difficult time right now.”

“What do you think will happen when four new businesses open. We’ll need every space to help them to be successful,” said Foley.

The Food Collaborative, in a press statement, stated that they “are aware of concerns about parking in the Center. We acknowledge that things have been difficult for all of us over the past two summers during the construction project.”

“As for employee parking, which we understand is a big issue, we don’t believe that eliminating our use of the lot would have any significant impact. Our volunteers and vendors park on surrounding streets and not in the lot,” said the Collaborative.

“If this season shows that there are significant parking problems, we are open to discussion about alternative locations for the future,” said the non-profit.
 
“We are hopeful that with the construction finished, the new spaces on Concord Avenue and the opening of Foodies, all businesses, including the Farmers Market will thrive this summer.

Free for 30: Town Release New Belmont Center Parking Plan [Video]

By 3 Comments

Photo: A pay-by-plate kiosk in Pittsburgh.

In an effort help to increase on-street parking turnover and availability for shoppers in Belmont Center, drivers parking along Leonard Street will need more than just change in their pockets; they’ll need to remember their license plate number. 

According to a press release from the town dated Friday, March 10, Pay-By-License-Plate parking stations will go into effect in Belmont Center on March 27,  primarily along Leonard Street. 

The stations, currently under wraps, were installed this past fall. The new system goes into effect about a month before the opening of Foodie’s Urban Market, the popular grocery which is expected to increase parking demand in Belmont’s principal business center.

The new multi-space meters will allow for 30 minutes of free parking and the ability to pay for up to an additional hour for a total of 90 minutes of parking per day on Leonard Street. The stations will accept cash and credit card payments. 

Patrons will be required to input their license plate number even if they intend to only take advantage of the 30-minute free period. 

Here is a video from Deerfield Beach, Florida (with Jim “Chiefy” Mathie, the local dive shop owner) on how to use the system.

Parking in the Claflin Street Municipal Parking lot, located behind Leonard Street, will continue to offer two free hour parking spaces, as well as metered parking spaces – which were installed in August 2015 – for a dollar per hour. Credit card and cash payments are accepted. 

Parking by plate number was first installed in Calgary, Canada in September 2007 and in Denver in 2008. The largest US pay-by-plate program is in Pittsburgh which has installed 800-plus terminals.

Foodie’s Opening Set for Early March

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The rear/main entrance of the new Foodie’s

Get ready for Belmont Center’s newest food destination.

Foodie’s Urban Market, the Roxbury-based supermarket chain, will open its doors to its new 15,000 square foot store “in the next few weeks,” said Angela Braun, director of Belmont’s Health Department on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Braun and her assistant, Wesley Chin, were inspecting the market at 75 Leonard St. on Tuesday afternoon as the firm ramps up acquiring the needed permits to open the location.

“They told us it would be in early March. They are almost there,” said Braun.

A call Tuesday to Victor Leon, Foodie’s spokesperson, was left unanswered.

Foodie’s is known for prepared dinners and lunches, specialty departments, beer, and wine selections as well as home delivery service.

The news comes almost two years to the month since Belmont’s Locatelli Properties signed an agreement in March 2015 with the firm which opened its first store in Boston’s South End in 1999. It has expanded in the past five years into Duxbury and South Boston.

At the time of the agreement, it was expected the store would be open in late summer/fall of 2016 but work on the circa 1940 building required more extensive structural work.

The opening marks the return of a grocery store in Belmont Center two decades after the previous retailer, J. Bildner & Sons, closed its doors at 69 Leonard St.