Samuels Keeps Adding to Fenway Retail Mix
January 27, 2012 — By By Mike Hoban
BOSTON — With the recently announced signings of a major retailer (not named Target) and a celebrity chef’s restaurant, Samuels Associates continues to push forward in its quest to transform the Fenway from a Red Sox, Lansdowne, and drinking emporium into a “vibrant urban village,” according to one official at the Boston-based development firm.
The latest bounce in that direction comes via a 30,000-sf lease penned by Marshall’s for 126 Brookline Ave., a commitment outlined by Samuels Vice President of Development Peter Sougarides this week. Sougarides also announces that Michael Schlow, executive chef and owner of the upscale Radius, Via Matta and Alta Strada restaurants, will open the 7,000-sf Happy’s Bar & Kitchen in the former Burton’s space at the Fenway Triangle Trilogy in April. No further details were provided for either lease, but Colliers International retail specialist Theodore Chryssicas pegs asking rents for the district in the $40- to $80-per sf range, compared to $100- to $200-per sf for the nearby Back Bay.
“Fenway was once about entertainment, food and drink, but now it’s a full fledged neighborhood, and the retail augments that,” says Chryssicas, who delivered an in-depth market overview of the Fenway’s activity during last week’s annual Colliers market forecast during which he highlighted the Marshall’s commitment. The deal continues a positive trend, he told event attendees. “Years ago if you lived there, you had to go outside Fenway – with the exception of Shaw’s – for all your services,” Chryssicas says. “Now you can just walk and stay within that neighborhood. There aren’t a lot of neighborhoods in Boston where you can say that.”
Marshalls will occupy the second floor of the 66,000-sf building, as well as sharing ground level space with Yard House, the long-awaited California-based brew pub that will finally open in early March. The Boston Phoenix will continue to maintain offices on the third floor of 126 Brookline Ave. The split-level tenancy is a deviation from the conventional mixed-use model of ground floor retail, but with the lack of big block retail space available in Boston proper, it is becoming necessary for retail tenants to find alternative options.
“The larger retailers typically need more square footage and it’s hard to find (that much space) in the city on a single floor,” explains Sougarides. “So when these retailers come into the city they’ll look at two levels to get the square footage they need.” The industry veteran says the layout is similar to what Samuels has done with certain buildings around the corner on Boylston Street. At Guitar Center (1255 Boylston St.), there is a two-level flagship store with office space above, and in the CVS property at 1249 Boylston St., customers enter at ground level and can proceed to a lower level, with office space on the second floor.
Sougarides declined to comment on whether the anticipated signing of Target to a 170,000-sf lease to anchor the retail portion of the mixed-use Fenway Triangle project has been finalized, but focused instead on the mission of the developer, calling it a macro plan to create “an ‘urban village’ along Boylston Street that was on the neighborhood’s terms,” he says. “It’s a long term, multi-phased plan. We’ve got another building (Phase one of Fenway Triangle) that we’re going to start this year, and more projects we’ll develop over the years, but it will all depend on the economy, financing, and general market conditions.”
William J. Beckeman, president and CEO of Linear Retail Properties, has watched the evolution of Fenway closely for the last half-dozen years, and gives Samuels and the Red Sox “a lot of credit” for a rapid transformation. “It took some vision, and I’ve been converted to a believer,” conveys Beckeman, whose firm owns several urban retail assets in the Hub. As for the Fenway, he says, “It has certainly emerged as an attractive area for young professionals.”
Chryssicas is equally bullish on the Fenway’s progress. “You’ve really got everything you need in the Fenway market now,” he says. “There’s one building that has Staples, Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, then you’ve got Target (as rumored), Marshalls, and plenty of restaurants around there . . . (Samuels is ) just really cementing that and transforming Fenway into one of the really desired neighborhoods.”
