New Builders Showroom Coming to 52 Great Road

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Jack Bellan Custom Home Builders at 110 Great Road is opening a Builders Showroom at 52 Great Road, the former location of Tea's Art Studio. The showroom specializes in home renovation including bathroom and kitchen remodeling, architectural plans and design. Stay tuned for a more in-depth article.

Friendly's in Bedford Has Closed

Friendly's Restaurants has announced closing of 37 additional stores. This includes the Bedford location at 343 Great Road in The Great Road Shopping Center. In addition to the Bedford location, 9 other Massachusetts Locations have closed. This includes Great Barrington, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Mansfield, Springfield (2), Shrewsbury and Westborough,

As previously reported, Friendly's Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy back in October closing 63 stores. In December, the Bankruptcy court agreed to let Sun Capital purchase the company for about $75 million. The sale was completed today and it emerged from Bankruptcy.

COMMENTS:
Unfortunately this is not a surprise. It remains to be seen if Friendly's will survive. What's interesting is Sun Capital also owns Boston Market, which closed it's Bedford location as part of it's restructuring (the location is now Asiana Bistro).

It remains to be seen if the Friendly's closing will affect the Great Road Shopping Center plans to replace the Travelodge with a new restaurant.

Burlington to get new Mixed Use Retail Center

The Town of Burlington in conjunction with Nordblum Company in redeveloping a new mixed use retail center in the Northwest Office Park off Middlesex Turnpike in Burlington. While Nordblum has been busy redeveloping the property and securing Wegman's Supermarket as the anchor tenant, Burlington in conjunction with the state has received $3.5 million dollar in MassWorks Grants.

While the area currently primarily consists of office buildings, a new 140,000 square foot Wegman's will be opening along with plans for a host of non-chain restaurants along 3rd avenue. Plans also call for a bowling alley and 300 residential apartments. The project is designed to emulate a downtown area, with wide sidewalks and a main street. More details on this project can be found here.




3rd Avenue in Burlington. Click to View Larger Map

Comments:
This is a very interesting redevelopment project that seems to make sense from a land perspective. The downtown areas in most Massachusetts towns are deemed historic and thus are restricted from significant redevelopment. There is very little open land left for new malls or shopping centers while there is a glut of office space in older suburban style office parks. The challenge will be to gain a critical mass of restaurants and retail to make this a destination.

Do you think this is a good idea?

Restaurant Proposed to Replace Travelodge

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Gerald Management Group, owners of Great Road Shopping Center, have proposed a new Quick Service Restaurant to replace the Travelodge which is forecast to close soon (it's no longer accepting online reservations). The proposed restaurant is expected to be about 3600 square feet and features 68 seats and a Drive Thru.

McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts are currently the only restaurants in town that feature Drive Thrus.

The exact brand of restaurant is still unknown at this time. Please click here to see the top 50 Quick Service Restaurant brands.

What restaurant would you most like to see?

Large Number of New Restaurants Open in Burlington

The last few months have seen a large number of new restaurants open or about to open in Burlington. Six of these are opening in place of previous restaurants.These include:

b.good (Former Dandelion Green space)
Burtons Grill (Opening December - Middlesex Commons)
The Chateau (Former Bugaboo Creek space)
Chipotle Grill (Former Dandelion Green space)
Five Guys Burgers (Middlesex Commons)
Mr. Chans (Opening Soon - Burlington Square)
Spikes Junkyard Dogs and Stack-a-Burger (Burlington Mall)
Tavern in the Square (Opening Soon - New England Executive Park)
Yeh! Frozen Yogurt (Opening Soon - Former Dandelion Green space)

By comparison, Bedford opened 2 new restaurants in 2010 and none in 2011. 

With the Bedford Travelodge closing soon, this might make a good location for a new restaurant in Bedford. What type of restaurant would you like to see?

Bedford Travelodge to close by January

Quick update on the Bedford Travelodge. According to The Great Road Shopping Center, the lease for the Bedford Travelodge is ending shortly and will not be renewed. Travelodge is expected to vacate the building by January. The Shopping Center is currently looking for a new tenant. The existing structure is expected to be demolished in stages in 2012.

Several New Signs Appear in Bedford

 deMont's Garage on Railroad Avenue.

Mattress World recently opened in The Great Road Shopping Center at the old Rugged Bear Location

New Sign for 50 Loomis Street. Simply Natural Nails opened earlier this year.

Carriage House Cafe became Carriage House Cafe & Bakery after new owners took over in July.

Serenity Yoga moved to 363 Great Road in April and Bella Bronze Tanning Opened next door in September.

A new sign at Genetti's Wine & Spirits reminds customers to stay off their mobile phone at the counter.