Our Shifting Downtown

People have contacted me with more information about this post. Additions are in italics. Thanks everyone!

It's easy to get nervous about the long term sustainability of our downtown when we watch businesses leave and "For Lease" signs go up. But things aren't always what they seem on the surface, and it's not easy to get a glimpse of what's going on. Occasionally I hear things. Here's some of what I've heard.

I had heard this a while back, and I'm surprised that people still don't know that Emerson Hospital will be opening a primary and urgent care space at the Walgreens location. Yes, there is a planned Emerson Urgent Care facility planned for 129 Parker, but not till that area is ready. When it is, Urgent Care is supposed to move there, but the Primary Care space is slated to stay on Main Street. How long till it happens? I heard 6 months for them to start working on it, so it probably means a few more than that.

River Rock Grill is closing at the end of the month, but don't despair about another empty space. Someone will be taking over the location, but it's unlikely to be a restaurant.

Denault Studio is going out of business, but again, don't despair. Another business, Makers' Workshop, will be taking over that whole space. So feel free to go in their and get a good deal on some cool Denault merchandise.

The Gruber Brothers building sold, and then sold again, first to a developer out of Acton, and then to Jimmy MacDonald. It's likely that the building will need to be torn down regardless of what happens there—I've heard that there are some issues with the foundation. But knowing that it's a Jimmy MacDonald building it seems likely that it will be apartments. The zoning for that piece of land will require that the lower level be some kind of commercial space.

Those developers from Acton didn't change their mind about Maynard, not at all. It turns out that they went and bought the Bank of America building and the Maynard Trust building (where McWalter's insurance was). I have no idea what their plans are, but there is a new chain-link fence that blocks access to the driveway between the Bank of America property and Middlesex Savings. It seems that the driveway is private property that belongs to the Bank of America building, and if they want to do any work there they need to make sure that the driveway isn't a liability during that work. So it seems the fence is temporary, but it may be up for a while.

McWalter's insurance moved to that small, free-standing building on Main Street where Manufacturer's Direct used to be—almost across from Main Street entrance to the basin parking lot.

As you all likely know, the Boston Bean House was bought and has since reopened. I've been meaning to do a blog post about that alone, but I haven't had a chance to get to it yet. Since the new ownership came in they've decided to open on Sundays and offer omelets, and as of today they've decided to start offering their breakfast all day. They also offer some South American snacks like empanadas and pupusas (I've had them. They're tasty)

Art's Specialties has been paying close attention to our market and how traffic patterns affect the shop. Because of that they've started offering some prepared foods, so you can stop in after work and grab a little something. You may have noticed that they're carrying fresh bread. I think it gets there on Thursday. They've also started carrying milk and eggs. People have asked for things and Art tries to accommodate, so don't hesitate to stop in and talk about your food interests.

The former UCC church was bought by Maynard-local William Doyle. He had a naming contest for it some months ago, and the building is now referred to as "Sanctuary." His buying the building allowed the Community School to come back, which makes him a hero to many families in town. The Maynard Food Pantry (including the backpack program) is also moving to the Sanctuary in the spring. There's also a yoga studio (Be the Love Yoga Studio) going into the lower level. William's intentions for the building are for it to be a local performance space and community gathering place. Need a location for a concert or performance? The Sanctuary's your spot!

The Fine Arts Theatre was finally able to get their wheelchair accessible bathroom stall built, so that's a major plus, and starting this week they're going to be replacing the seats in theater one to be like the newer seats in theater three. I must also add that they've been doing an amazing job of getting great movies into the theater!

Amory's Tomb, a taproom and brewery, is in progress. The location is where Neighborhood Brick Oven Pizza used to be. I'm not even sure how many years that spot has been vacant, so it will be good to see some life there. I think the concept is one where you go in to sample beer but you can bring your own food, but I'm not sure if I'm right about that. Amory’s Tomb Brewing Co. Is a community based brewery and taproom. The brewery will have on site pouring and you can bring your own food or order in from one of the many local restaurants. There will also be a small retail area where you can purchase clothing and such, as well as growler fills bottle offerings. They were shooting for last October but through a rough patch with contracting help they have been a bit delayed. 

Mill & Main still has it in their plans to take down some of the iron fencing.

Serendipity Cafe is considering offering a southern breakfast specialty to their menu. I'll leave it at that with fingers crossed. 

It looks like we're headed into a period where there may be a lot of construction happening in our downtown, but hopefully on the other side we'll have some changes that will make good sense for the town. I'm hopeful. The empty spaces may make you a little nervous, but take a look around at the positive changes that have happened. You'll see that there is an upward trend and that there are more instances of improvement then there are of empty store fronts. And as these improvements happen, we may find that tenants more suited to our town come in.

That's it from me. What else have you all been hearing?