Press Releases

CITY SIDEWALKS - Celebrate the Season in Boston's South End
11/25/2009

For the first time, three organizations that support businesses in the South End are combining their resources to provide the best December ever in the South End. The event named City Sidewalks will include a series of events all through the month of December to encourage local residents and the rest of Boston to shop and dine in the South End.

The three organizations, Washington Gateway Main Street, South End Business Alliance and SoWa Sundays, are being creative about bringing customers into the South End businesses. City Sidewalks will be a series of events focusing on unique gifts and fabulous dining. Included in the schedule are a holiday sale and dinner night, a window decorating contest, a South End wide scavenger hunt, the Holiday Market, the WGMS Cell Phone Santa, the Mayor’s tree lighting, and many more. The best part is that GTI Properties will provide free parking at 500 and 540 Harrison Ave.

One of the highlights of the schedule will be a “dine and shop” night on December 10. Sixty local businesses have joined to encourage couples to both dine and shop a holiday sale. Restaurants will be providing special meal pricing and local merchants will have up to 20% off their merchandise for just this night. What an opportunity for a fun evening to share with a friend, a spouse or your family.



Washington Gateway Main STreet to Host a Japanese Delegation
10/05/2009

On Wednesday, October 7, the Japan Foundation for Regional Vitalization, whose main purpose and activity is to vitalize local communities and economies by working closely with local businesses, will visit the South End. They believe that Washington Gateway Main Street and they have a lot in common, and expressed interest in visiting Washington Street during their study tour in the U.S.A, to exchange opinions about local vitalization. Washington Street has been awarded nationally twice for excellence in revitalization and preservation by the National Preservation Trust in 2005 and the American Planning Association in 2008, and is an example of how a huge planning and implementation redevelopment project can be accomplished with the cooperation of government, the private sector and the neighbors.

Executive Director Linda Royer and former Executive Director Sheila Grove will give a brief history of Washington Gateway Main Street, how WGMS was started, and what were the most difficult challenges. The Foundation will also receive information on the structure of WGMS, how they are funded and the creation of the budget. Following this session, the Foundation will be escorted on a walking tour to their lunch destination, Toro Restaurant.

Washington Gateway Main Street Hosts A Celebration of Summer in the South End!!
08/19/2009

On Saturday August 15th, Washington Gateway Main Street held a family and friends event in beautiful Franklin Square . The historic 1890’s park on Washington Street and East.Newton St was the setting for a number fun activities for everyone in the family, ReadBoston will brought their Storymobile, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department provided fingerprinting, and brand new Pine Village Preschool provided activities for the kids at their table. WGMS distributed information on South End businesses such as our very popular “Brunch in the South End Rocks” list of local restaurants serving brunch. The event also featured a walk down Washington Street as part of Healthy Main Streets, a health initiative supported by Mayor Menino. The walkers were given the map of the Urban Trail which is a tour of interesting panels installed at the Silvery Line bus stops that feature different aspects of the history of the neighborhood.

Local Volunteer and Business Receive Awards From Washington Gateway Main Street
06/17/2009

Volunteer Michael Bond and local businessman Jeff Gates received Volunteer of the year and Business of the Year awards from Mayor Tomas M. Menino andWashington Gateway Main Street in a beautiful ceremony on June 11 at UMASS.

Jeff Gates is one of the partners of the Aquitaine Group, which is an integral part of the South End neighborhood. Each of their restaurants has different flavor, and all are equally fabulous. Aquitaine was recognized and appreciated for the continued support of restaurants Union Bar and Grille and Gaslight Brasserie du Coin of Washington Gateway Main Street programs NeckTies and Cell Phone Santa. Aquitaine is opening a new restaurant in Dedham in September.

Michael is the dream IT professional. He worked many hours with the leadership of Washington Gateway Main Street to revise the WGMS website and to tailor a program to fit their technological needs. In the end, a new website was unveiled-built from the ground up-that utilizes innovative technology that will allow board members to make their own simple updates and adds PayPal functionality. He also advised on the selection of a new computer system for the WGMS office.

Both individuals represent the best of the South End and Washington Gateway Main Street solutes them.



Washington Gateway Main Street Receives 2009 National Trust Main Street Acceditation
04/23/2009

Boston, MA April 15, 2009: Washington Gateway Main Street has been designated an accredited National Main Street Program for meeting the commercial district revitalization performance standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center. Each year, the National Trust and its coordinating program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street programs that have built strong revitalization organizations that have demonstrated their ability to follow the Main Street methodology.

“We congratulate this year’s nationally accredited Main Street programs for meeting our established performance standards,” says Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center “rebuilding a district’s economic health and maintaining that success required broad-based community involvement and support, in addition to establishing a solid organization with sound management that is committed to long-term success”.

The National Trust Main Street Center works in partnership with Coordinating Main Street Programs throughout the nation to identify the local programs that meet the National Trust’s 10 basic performance standards. These standards set the benchmarks for measuring an individual Main Street program’s application of the Main Street Four-Point Approach to commercial district revitalization. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as developing a missing. Fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracing economic progress and preserving historic buildings. For more information on the National Program accreditation program, visit www.mainstreet.org/nationalprograms.

Gateway’s performance was evaluated by Boston Main Streets, which is the coordinating organization for Main Street programs in Boston.

New business owners Bob and Kathi Molloy of Bark Place stated “First of all was the acceptance and friendship offered by the WGMS organization and Board. We were very impressed with how warmly we were received and the amount of support that was offered. They followed through with their support with official support letters to all the myriad Boston agencies and authorities we had to navigate and most importantly, and impressively, the Director personally attended a successful zoning Board of Appeals hearing with us on our behalf.” WGMS Executive Director Linda Rubin Royer stresses “ongoing support of our businesses in these difficult times is a major objective of WGMS. We continually look for ways to assist them and seek out and maximize all available resources.”



Hub Adds Small Loans for Small Businesses
02/23/2009

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | February 23, 2009
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is launching a program to provide loans to small businesses in the city's economically distressed neighborhoods, hoping to assist local entrepreneurs struggling during the recession.
The program, called Microloan Boston, will offer loans of up to $25,000 to businesses in the city's federally designated empowerment zone, a 5.8-square-mile area that covers Roxbury and Dorchester and parts of Chinatown, Mission Hill, and South Boston. The program, which is scheduled to be kicked off today, comes as small business owners face a drop in consumer spending and little or no access to private loans to fund operations and launch new products during the soft economy.
"Part of our strategy for strengthening our local communities is to ensure a strong and expanding base of small businesses that provide jobs to local residents," Menino said. "This micro-loan pool is designed to strengthen those businesses that already support our neighborhoods and encourage the creation of new ones."
Menino is setting aside $350,000 for the loans, which can help cover inventory, real estate expenses, and other costs. The loan program will also provide technical support to business owners, including advice on marketing plans, legal assistance, and help with accounting and other financial matters.
Only businesses operating in the empowerment zone with annual revenues of less than $500,000 are eligible to receive loans through the fund. The empowerment zone was created through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to direct federal economic development dollars to distressed city neighborhoods.
The loans will vary in size from $5,000 to $25,000 and will carry a fixed interest rate of 9 percent. Businesses can obtain applications through the city's Department of Neighborhood Development or Boston Connects Inc., a nonprofit organization that administers the empowerment zone.
So far, the program has identified two loan recipients, both in Roxbury. The owner of the Dudley Square market, Tony Durant, said the loan will help his business survive through the downturn. "It's just a great help," he said.
Mohamed Guled said a $25,000 loan from the program is helping him open Hamdi Halal Market, a specialty foods store on Tremont Street in Roxbury that is designed to cater to the neighborhood's large population of Muslim residents.
"This money is helping me prepare for the rough market out there right now," Guled said. "People don't want to spend money the way they were a couple of years ago."
Shirley Carrington, interim executive director of Boston Connects, said the organization is seeking to get the loans out as quickly as possible to aid struggling businesses. She said Boston Connects is seeking to distribute the entire $350,000 loan fund by the end of the year.
"Our board felt strongly that we needed to do something with the resources we have to ensure that businesses get some help," Carrington said. "We're trying to get it out as quickly as we can."
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.

Corner of South End attracts 9 proposals for redevelopment
02/21/2009

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | February 21, 2009
It is considered one of Boston's hottest development frontiers.
An industrial corner of the South End between Harrison Avenue and Albany Street is brimming with new proposals, including plans for a 265,000-square-foot hotel, dozens of residences, and the renovation of office buildings and worn-down city blocks in need of modern refurbishment.
"This area is really in its embryonic stage and has great potential moving forward," said Harold Brown, chairman of The Hamilton Co., which is building 50 apartments in the neighborhood at 601 Albany St. "It's ripe for a lot of mixed-use development."
With nine current development proposals and others on the way, the Boston Redevelopment Authority this week hired a consulting firm to develop design guidelines as well as regulations for land use and transportation improvements to support development. That work will help pave the way for construction once the economy rebounds and credit begins flowing again to local developers.
The firm, Stull & Lee Inc., will spend the next nine to 12 months studying Harrison Avenue and Albany Street, along with a grid of streets between Interstate 93 and Washington Street, a corridor defined by old industrial distribution centers and warehouses, with pockets of residences and out-of-the-way restaurants.
It is also home to Boston Medical Center, which recently completed construction of its 192,000-square-foot Biosafety Laboratory and is building a 249,000-square-foot ambulatory care center.
The hospital is also considering changes to its master plan for development in the area.
Ellen Berlin, a hospital spokeswoman, said the hospital intends to file an updated plan within the next couple of months. She would not discuss any revisions or potential development proposals before the plan is formally released.
The streets surrounding the medical center are dotted with upscale restaurants and rows of brownstones that define the South End's architecture, but there also are plenty of parking lots and vacant properties considered ripe for redevelopment.
Developer Ron Druker owns several parcels along East Berkeley Street, Shawmut Avenue, and Washington Street.
He said he does not have any immediate plans for the properties, but is closely monitoring the neighborhood's rapid evolution.
"There is the potential for a mix of uses that can be a resource to the larger portion of the South End," said Druker. "That could include retail, offices, residential, and perhaps even hotel."
Newton-based BH Normandy has notified the city of its plan to build a 265,000-square-foot hotel on a parking lot at 275 Albany St. The proposal also includes a 110-space parking garage and landscaping improvements along Albany, East Berkeley, and Traveler streets.
Another potential development site is the nearby offices of the Boston Herald. The newspaper's publisher, Patrick Purcell, entered into a joint venture with a local real estate firm in 2007 to redevelop the paper's longtime headquarters.
Also in the pipeline is the renovation of the former Teradyne headquarters by Nordic Properties, which is in talks with potential medical tenants and firms looking for back-office space. Nordic, which spent $35 million on the building and a 310-space parking garage, is also looking to open a bistro-style restaurant on the 250,000-square-foot building's ground floor.
"There is a lot of momentum here. Entire neighborhoods are bringing themselves back," said Nordic's president, Ogden Hunnewell. "We made a big investment here, so I'm pretty bullish on the neighborhood."
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.

STATE STREET BARBERS TO RECEIVE GRANT FUNDS FOR STOREFRONT IMPROVEMENTS FROM WASHINGTON GATEWAY MAIN STREET
01/02/2009

Washington Gateway Main Street will be presenting a check for $1,737.00 reimbursement for storefront improvements to State Street Barbers on Washington Street.
State Street Barbers will be receiving their reimbursement for a storefront improvement grant for their store sign, from Washington Gateway Main Street on January 15. 2009, at 5:30 p.m. at the barbershop at 1313 Washington Street. The Storefront Improvement Program was created by Boston Main Streets to help new businesses with their storefront improvement or with their signs and awnings. Businesses apply through Washington Gateway Main Street and may be awarded ½ of their costs up to $5,000. Other current grantees are Espeso Pawtique and Seiyo Sushi and Wine Shop.
State St. Barbers' mission is to bring back the golden age of the Barbershop. Located in the heart of Boston's hip South End, State St. Barbers has won Best of Boston awards from Boston Magazine, The Boston Globe, Improper Bostonian, The Weekly Dig, Citysearch and Citysquares. They provide their customers a comfortable yet masculine environment in which to relax and enjoy top quality grooming. Their expert staff of certified Master Barbers provides stylish modern haircuts, classic hot lather shaves, facials, hair coloring, & beard trims. Services come with a shampoo/condition, straight-razor neck shave, beverage, and a shoulder massage - all for a reasonable price

Washington Gateway likes Anita Kurl’s Front
12/06/2008

Anita Kurl, a hair salon located at 1661 Washington Street, received a $600 grant for storefront improvements from Washington Gateway Main Street on Tuesday, Oct. 21. The storefront has the Anita Kurl logo on every window and the top is covered with circles that look like bubbles in different shades of blue and white. The logo was created by Pinkergreen Design and made by Ardon Vinyl. "They are unique looking colors," said salon owner Amiee Pandey. "I never would have picked them, but they look really cool."
Pandey hired Pinkergreen Design, a Waltham-based company, to design her storefront. It was inspired by the cobalt blue walls inside the salon, which are visible through the storefront windows. "All the circles had to be hand-cut," Pandey said. "It was a labor intensive job and they installed it on a 90 degree, hot summer day."
Pandey said had she not received the grant, she probably would not have hired Pinkergreen to design her storefront. "I wouldn’t have done something this creative," she said. "I would have designed it myself, but hiring a company ends in a much better product."
The Storefront Improvement Program was created by Boston Main Streets to help new businesses with their storefront improvement or with their signs and awnings. Businesses apply through Washington Gateway Main Street and may be awarded half of their costs up to $5,000. Other neighborhood grantees are Espeso and Seiyo. Pandey said to get the grant she attended a Washington Gateway meeting where "people were very passionate about the neighborhood." At the meeting, she was asked many questions and given the proper application forms. "It kind of came out of nowhere," she said. "I didn’t know this was out there. The grant money is there, but not many people know to ask for it."
Anita Kurl opened at its current location on April 1 and business has been going well so far. The salon was previously located on Columbus Avenue, but was forced to move because of a rent increase. But it was all for the best, apparently. "We have to turn so many people away on the weekend, which is excellent for me," said Pandey of the new space. "I’m excited to be part of a neighborhood people are so interested in. People are realizing they don’t have to go to Newbury for a good haircut."

American Planning Association Designates Boston’s Washington Street One of Top 10 Great Streets for 2008
10/16/2008

BOSTON, October 16th, 2008 - Mayor Thomas M. Menino is pleased to announce that Washington Street in the South End/Lower Roxbury has been designated one of 10 Great Streets for 2008 through the American Planning Association’s Great Places in America program. APA Great Places exemplify exceptional character and highlight the role planners and planning play in creating communities of lasting value.