Coffee & Cafe folks, FYI
I just sent this email out to some of my pals in the BOS/Cambridge/Somerville coffee & cafe scene. Figured I’d post up here too. Both opportunities are great. And both opportunities, though very small, are the sort of projects that make us tick here at GSP.
Yo coffee/cafe friends.
Sorry for mass email – I prob owe some of you a call. I feel like having 6 week old twins at home gives me a free-pass for a while…
Purpose of this note is a head-up re: a space I’m working on with Noam Ron, cc’d. It’s at corner of Tufts and Lincoln St in Leather District. That n’hood needs a proper cafe… badly. Noam and I have been tempted to do it ourselves but we know better. And Noam (who owns the property) wants something special here. The space sets up really well for it and could be beautiful (see pic attached) — brick & beam, 1100 SF, high ceilings, great windows, easy loading in back alley, etc…
Noam and I have been working on a VERY exciting restaurant project across the street at the Radian (240 units of residential on Greenway) that will be the new home to Matt Jennings (of Farmstead in Providence). See:
We worked for years on finding the right restauranteur for this space and in many ways this cafe will be an extension of the same sort of values that fueled that effort — finding an exceptional, responsible, like-minded, local operator that strays from much of the uninteresting sameness that we are seeing in many new projects across the City. As you may also know, the Leather District is becoming home to lots of start-ups and small creative class businesses — a market segment that we know wants good coffee…
So that’s the spiel. Let me know if you are interested (or know of anyone that may be). Willing to get creative with economics and do the right deal here. For right operator we’ve done some work for you and found some investors too. We believe in this spot.
Lastly, while I’m at it, one more coffee related thing/plug/opportunity: The Cambridge Innovation Center is opening a Boston outpost later this year at 50 Milk Street (another coffee desert). See:
Through GSP and in cooperation with CIC we’ll be drafting and issuing an RFP for the operation of a coffee bar in the lobby (with street access). CIC is the same group we worked with on the District Hall food and bev program (now Gather & Brew) — they get it and are wonderful to work with. For this spot we are thinking 200 SF super compact and slick. Bar, dishwasher, under-counter fridge/ice, etc. We’ll build it – you bring espresso machine and operate it. Good comp would be Blue Bottle in Gotham West Market or, closer to home, something like Hi-Rise did in Harvard Square a few years back. Request for Interested Parties will come out in July. Stay tuned for that but also let me know if this is of interest in the meantime.
Ok, thats all for now.
Hit me back on Leather District spot asap. Noam or I can talk at your convenience.
Thanks for reading!!
