davis_square | Cambridge Day article on soon-to-open bfresh grocery

This space has been empty for 6.5 years because the ward alderman and ZBA refused to allow any tenant except a trendy grocery store. I really hope this succeeds and doesn't meet the same fate of the Porter Square Walgreens and the building doesn't sit empty for another half decade or more. I'm somewhat skeptical, however, since no grocer wanted to move in there on their own accord, and based on this article this location sounds experimental.

I'll definitely give it a chance, but it will take a lot to overcome the convenience and selection of Star Market in Porter Square for me since I live close to Porter. I know for some living on the west side of Davis Square (like Ron) this will definitely be more convenient. Best of luck to bfresh.

> This space has been empty for 6.5 years because the ward alderman and ZBA refused to allow any tenant except a trendy grocery store.

That's pretty corrupt if true.

It's a long saga. There was a proposal for a restaurant and a gym there in 2013 and it was shot down. I should just point out that this was the work of the previous alderman and not our current alderman (who took office in 2016).

The previous alderman had a personal vision for Davis Square and was willing to use the zoning process to veto every business that didn't fit that personal vision. I'm not sure how our current alderman would have handled the same situation, but my sense is that he sees himself more as a servant of the community and less of as an elected activist.

Edited 2017-02-07 02:54 (UTC)

It's partially true; the alderman made a public show of supporting Beer Works in that location, but privately pushed for getting some sort of grocery store, despite the parking/loading/traffic difficulties of finding one to take over that space. Beer Works made a bit of a hash of their presentation to the public and didn't have much public support anyway, so I think they cut their losses. Crunch Gym was set to move in upstairs but pulled their application after seeking variances; the reasons weren't made public.

It's definitely true that the previous alderman showed a clear preference to a certain kind of business in that location. I'm very much looking forward to bfresh opening just a few blocks from me -- it sounds like they've worked out the issues that made other tenants hesitate, and have the experience of their previous location under their belt.

There were at least two bar/restaurant proposals for the space that I am aware of.

The first was a bar called World of Beers, which is a national chain based in Florida. They have since opened a location at the Cambridgeside Galleria mall, where California Pizza Kitchen used to be. The former ward alderman was against this business, because it was a bar with no substantial food menu and that it was a large/national chain. They tried to compromise by allowing outside food to be brought in, but ultimately they gave up and walked away.

Next Boston Beer Works proposed to open a location in the same spot. They proposed to have a full in house kitchen and food menu and they are a very small eastern MA based chain. The former ward alderman then decided to argue that even though they would have food and were not a national chain, that Boston Beer Works and their menu was too "generic".

This appeared increasingly as grasping at straws on her part, to prevent another "evil" bar from opening in Davis Square, as we were apparently in danger of having Davis Sq turn into Landsdowne street. This was an actual argument put forth at community meetings on this proposal. At that point she shifted tactics all together and pulled "there are no liquor licenses available for Davis Sq" out of her magicians top hat. This argument had never been raised at all during the World of Beers community meetings prior to this, but popped up as soon as the food and anti-chains arguments started losing traction. Just as World of Beers eventually gave up, so did Boston Beer Works. Boston Beer Works then opened up a new location in the former Watch City Brewing space in Waltham. Within about two months of Boston Beer Works walking away from renting the Social Security building space, the Aldermen were somehow able to locate a liquor license for Meju to open up in Davis Sq directly across the street.

The bias of the former alderman was very apparent and she skillfully placed roadblocks in front of these potential business that did not fit her vision for the square. As demonstrated by their investment and successful opening of additional locations in nearby towns, these two proposed tenants were certainly viable options for filling the Social Security building space.

Agreed, her tactics were embarrassingly transparent, and caused a lot of frustration.

I apologize -- you're right, I had gotten Beer Works and World of Beers mixed up. The Beer Works presentation was very slick, and they had a nice proposal, though a lot of people complained that it was too generic and too much like a "sports bar". The World of Beers chain are the folks who made a hash of their proposal to the public by doing things like promising "lots of local beers" but not being able to name a single local brewer they'd be sourcing beer from.

This is an excellent summary of the entire saga. Thank you for writing this up.

The one thing missing from the summary is that the grocery store was originally supposed to be Brothers Marketplace, a small-format Roche Bros. store. Roche Bros. pulled out for unspecified reasons that were probably related to the building's poor condition. Fortunately, bfresh later stepped in to build out Roche Bros.' already permitted and approved plan.

Edited 2017-02-08 16:48 (UTC)

Hopefully now you will donate your sad stalking horse to Goodwill – your whining about "not enough beer in Davis Sq...yadda yadda.. mean alderman yadda yadda " has been incredibly tiresome (not to mention juvenile and inaccurate)

Many of us care more about what the character of DS is long term than "where we can get a beer after work" (that's a paraphrase of a remark from you).

So no "saga" except in the minds of the looking-to-be bruised because the world doesn't work they way they want it to.

Happy days

I generally ignore low grade trolling here, but in the interest of accuracy to people who may not have been actively monitoring this community over the years I feel compelled to just point out that you aren't paraphrasing anything that I have ever said. Given that there are many people who have similar feelings to me (as this thread can attest) I can see how you might have mixed someone else up with me.

Edited 2017-02-09 17:56 (UTC)

..and I generally have bitten my tongue over your endless whining here about "the big bad alderman" and how she prevented you from drinking "beer" ...but as that retail space is now filled (with a very nice business) and there are better things to whine about, I suggest you move on.

(and yes, you did make remarks like the one I paraphrased.)

How about both of you meet me for coffee together at the new Dunkin Donuts when it opens?

Sure!

Surely you could provide a link to such a statement if it were made. I did a quick search and found nothing, and I have made no public comments on this topic anywhere but in this LiveJournal community. The only contributions from yourself to such discussions were trolling various community members:

http://davis-square.livejournal.com/3282190.html?thread=35638798#t35638798
http://davis-square.livejournal.com/3314035.html?thread=35887219#t35887219

etc.

Is this fun for you?

Edited 2017-02-09 20:50 (UTC)

I stand by my remarks – but I'll let you buy me a donut.

Could you find the comment you are "paraphrasing" or edit the "paraphrase" out of your reply?

Yes, I could.

Cambridge Day article on soon-to-open bfresh grocery

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