The redevelopment of the Filene’s building in Boston’s Downtown Crossing will be the project that does the most to redefine the area in the future, according to local officials.
The news coming out of Downtown Crossing lately has mostly revolved around who is leaving. Filene’s closed recently after the company that owned it got bought out by the owners of rival Macy’s, and Barnes & Noble on Washington Street shut its doors in June.
But those familiar with the area say it is in transition, and hope that – at the end of the current period of change – its future will be bright. Indeed, the office market there, like many throughout the rest of Boston, is showing increasing signs of health.
Rosalind Gorin, president and managing partner of Boston-based HN Gorin Inc., which recently sold but still manages the building at 55 Summer St., said she thinks that the Downtown Crossing of the future will not be as dominated by retail and that there will be more mixed uses, not just retail on the ground level. She also has seen the office market thriving.
“The challenge is, what do you do in the five to seven years that it will take [before the area reaches its potential]?” Gorin said.
Right now, projects and changes of all kinds abound in the area, and Gorin thinks some other trends will take shape as developers and investors continue to show and interest. One trend she sees coming is that small developers will take more of an interest in the “ladder blocks” – some of the smaller streets that run between Tremont and Washington streets. More restaurants and small-scale residential development likely will take place there, Gorin said. Those streets already are home to most of the residential development in the area.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority Board seems to be banking on big changes in the area. Earlier this month the BRA hired Toronto, Canada-based Urban Marketing Collaborative to help create a branding identity strategy for Downtown Crossing. The BRA committed $250,000 for the study, which will last six to nine months.
“I think that the study is an important piece of work,” said Anne Meyers, president of the Downtown Crossing Association.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino told The Boston Globe that the area is looking “really tired.”
“Downtown Crossing is one of Boston’s beloved shopping districts, but it is in need of revitalization,” Menino said in a prepared statement. “Urban Marketing Collaborative will bring new energy, ideas and an exciting new brand to Downtown Crossing. We’re looking for a Downtown Crossing that takes full advantage of its resources and includes a real mix of retailers.”
The BRA’s original request for proposals, which it put out early in the summer, asked for a consultant that could: create a new branding and identity strategy; create a public space model that could help the BRA decide what would improve pedestrians’ experience in the district; come up with an economic investment strategy that would study other pedestrian malls across the country and identify alternative spaces, such as upper- and lower-level MBTA space; and create an action plan to implement any suggested changes by estimating costs and developing a timeline.
Real Development
While the study is going on, some real development is taking place on the ground.
Some new companies are coming into the area. Citibank, for one, plans to open a branch in the Summer Street storefront that once held Walgreens.
Meyers cited the residential development in the area, a trend that started about 10 years ago, but which is still going on. A building on the corner of Washington and West streets is being gutted and will house residences, she said. Also, the Archstone Boston Common, a luxury apartment building on Washington Street, will bring more people to the area. Meyers said she hopes developments like that – which long have attracted both empty nesters and young professionals – along with other new development in the neighborhood will convince those young professionals to stay in the neighborhood once they start having families.
Emerson College also is working on a project in the area. The school plans to build a new performing arts and residence complex on Washington Street. It will renovate the Paramount Theatre, and the complex will include dormitories and offices. There also will be space for a restaurant on the street level. The school expects to start the $77 million project in the spring of next year.
But the project that has the potential to define Downtown Crossing more than many of the others is the redevelopment of the Filene’s building. Filene’s and Macy’s long have anchored the stores in the neighborhood. New Jersey-based Vornado Realty Trust announced in July it will buy the Filene’s building. No plans have been announced, but the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Wendy Kopsick, a spokeswoman for Vornado.
But local experts are optimistic. Vornado is known for its classy developments, Gorin said. While Meyers knows the development, when it is announced, will have to go through the approval project, she and many others who have high hopes for Downtown Crossing are anxious to see it begin. “Everybody is very eager here for it to happen sooner rather than later,” she said.
While such developments are under way, Gorin said, she hopes the city will continue to take responsibility for trash pickup and public safety in the area.
“I think the city has a responsibility to focus on Washington Street,” she said. The BRA soon will focus on the area and kick off the UMC study by hosting two “visioning sessions” with the business and retail community in the next couple of months.
According to the BRA, UMC will complete a broad-range survey, which will assess the needs of shoppers, retailers, residents and developers. The visioning sessions and survey will directly form the foundation for the consultants to develop a branding strategy for Downtown Crossing. The consultants will work hand in hand with an internal city team. Once a branding strategy is formed, the BRA and the consultants will present the branding concept and action plan to the public for feedback.
UMC and its sub-consultants – Moore Iacofano Goltsman Inc., BSC Group, Intelligent Space Partnership and 160over90 – have the expertise in creating branding and imaging strategies, downtown land-use planning, interpreting retail trends, downtown revitalization, urban design, market and financial feasibility, and programming and planning of mixed-use development projects and districts that is required for the successful planning of a revitalized Downtown Crossing area.
The study is part of the second phase of economic improvement for Downtown Crossing. In November 2004, Menino announced the creation of the Downtown Crossing Economic Improvement Initiative, signaling the importance of a physical upgrade of the district.
