Friday, December 21, 2007

A Brief Update on the Bedford Shopping Center Redevelopment

I recently spoke with Greg Salvatore, Managing Member and Director of Salvatore Capital Partners, the current owner of the Bedford Shopping Center. On November 26th, Salvatore Capital Partners presented some preliminary plans to the planning board and town to solicit feedback. An updated plan will be presented to the Bedford planning board in January and will incorporate some of the feedback provided.
The current layout makes it difficult to walk between stores without crossing paths
with lots of cars . The redevelopment features upgrades in pedestrian access.

In speaking with Greg, the biggest issue with the current shopping center configuration is the difficult pedestrian access. The updated plan seeks improvement to both pedestrian access and vehicle traffic flow. On the pedestrian side, the goal is to make it easier to walk around from one side of the center to the other without the need to get back in your vehicle. Adding additional stores will reduce the number of trips as shoppers can get more of there shopping done in one location,

Once construction starts, Greg anticipates it will take 18-24 months to complete the project. The project is currently scheduled to be completed in phases to ensure the stores and restaurants stay open during the construction. For example the US Post Office mail carrier building is scheduled to come down first, then a new building will be built. Once the new building is finished then Cafe Luigi, Bank of America and Cambridge Savings bank would move in to the new building while their old building is demolished.

I asked Greg about some of the other projects his company has worked on. He mentioned the Stonehill 123 retail center at 1285 Belmont Street in Brockton. According to Greg, this was an older somewhat run down shopping center that had a bunch of older store. Salvatore Capital Partners redeveloped the site and added new tenants including Starbucks and Bertucci’s.

This is an example of one of the shopping plaza's that was redeveloped by Salvatore Capital Partners.

As far as new stores, Greg mentioned there has been interest from a number of national retailers as well as some restaurants. Greg thought the strong Anchor stores (i.e. Whole Foods and Marshalls) are very helpful in attracting new high quality tenants. I would expect to see more information about new stores after the final plans have been approved by the town.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

30 Restaurants in Bedford

Was trying to figure out where to go for Lunch the other day, when I got to thinking how many restaurants are there in Bedford? So I figured I would list them all out. To make the list, they have to serve and charge for a meal and be available to the public. This excludes company cafeterias and gas stations (can you actually buy those hot dogs displayed on the grill?). I have had Ice Cream for dinner a few times so I had to include Bedford Farms --)

I came up with a total of 30 listed below. With a population of around 12,000, this works out to about 1 restaurant per 400 people or 2.5 restaurants per 1000 residents. The national average is 2.41 restaurants per 1000 residents putting Bedford just above the average restaurants per capita in the United States.

I think I got them all. I am not sure if the Bedford Plaza Hotel has a restaurant anymore. Did I miss any? A special gift to the first person that can correctly name the 3 restaurants that I have not yet eaten at yet.

I also put together a special Google map showing the location of each restaurant. You can click on the map to zoom in/out, drag or even get street view pictures. Click on the blue bulbs to pull up information on each restaurant.


View Larger Map
Map of Bedford restaurants. Click on any blue bulb to view restaurant information. I recommend zooming in so you can see more detail.

List of Restaurants in Bedford

Asiana Bistro (opening in January)
Bamboo
Bedford Farms
Bedford House of Beef
Bistro 44
Brueggers
Cafe Luigi
Carriage House
D’Angelos
Dalyas
Domino's Pizza
Dunkin Donuts
Express Pizza
Flatbread Pizza
Friendly’s
Ginger
Great Wall
Kens NY Deli
Knowfat Lifestyle Grille
Lemon Tree Cafe
McDonald’s (re-opening soon)
Melting Pot
Papa Ginos
Quiznos
Sparta
Starbucks
Steve’s Pizza
Stop and Shop
Sun Valley Subs
Whole Foods