Sunday, December 28, 2014

A Food Truck Grows in Bedford


Firebox at 347 Great Road, has a new food truck that is expected to be on the road soon. While, Firebox has made use of an existing food trailer for the past year or so visiting nearby office parks in Billerica and Lexington, this new truck has been uniquely designed by them.

The vehicle started out as a retired Fedex Delivery Truck
According to co-owner David Goldstone, while their existing food trailer was functional it was not designed as a food truck, making it difficult to cook in and wait on customers especially in the colder months. They were inspired by the movie Chef to design a food truck to better suit their needs. David recently came across some some interesting images from tattoo and graffiti artist Eric Escobar and thought it would be great to have him do the exterior design for their new food truck. They named the new truck Amigos Locos.


Note the backwards spelling Tex Mex on the front bumper making for easy to read when it's behind you in traffic.
Along with the new truck, Firebox also designed a new menu. They wanted a concept that would have some additional appeal to food truck customers. The menu features Tex Mex with BBQ Sandwiches, Tacos, Paninis and a rotating menu of Southwestern dishes.



The truck is expected to be out on the road soon.
New Hampshire Artist Eric Escobar did the exterior design

Comments:
The past year has seen a large increase in new food trucks in the towns surrounding Bedford such as Hartwell Avenue in Lexington, Blanchard Road in Burlington and Technology Park in Billerica. While Bedford have not yet seen many of the "newer" style food trucks that park at one location to serve lunch, food trucks have been around and making stops at individual business in Bedford for many years. For example a food truck makes regular stops at businesses along Commercial and Railroad Avenues.

Would you like to see more food trucks in Bedford? If so where do you think would be a good place to locate them?



Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Evanesce Sclerotherapy Open on Loomis Street


Evanesce opened last month at 50 Loomis Street in the space formerly occupied by Simple Natural Nails. I recently spoke with the owner Shannon Benoit.

Shannon is a registered Nurse who worked at an Interventional Radiology practice associated with Emerson Hospital. She then got laid off. Afterwords she took classes on Sclerotherapy which is a method to eliminate spider veins (which are thinner than varicose veins). Sclerotherapy uses needles to inject a sclerosing agent in to the vein. This closes the vein and then over time the body absorbs the vein and it eventually disappears.

After completing her Sclerotherapy classes, Shannon worked along with Dr. Connaughton at North Bridge Vein Care to learn the trade. He would do the Endovenous Laser Treatment (EVT) to take care of the larger varicose veins and she would do the Sclerotherapy for the spider veins. She liked the work she was doing but North Bridge Vein Care closed this past April. She had always wanted to open her own business and this presented the perfect opportunity.

After North Bridge closed, Dr. Connaughton went back to Emerson Hospital and Shannon began to look for a location where she could practice Sclerotherapy. She looked at several towns but decided on Bedford due to it's central location for her previous clients and she also she liked the town itself.

The 50 Loomis Street building is focused on Health and Wellness
For new patients, she starts with a consult. If their anatomy is questionable for Sclerotherapy, she refers them to Dr. Connaughton who uses EVT on the much larger Varicose Veins. EVT uses lasers to heat the vein, destroying the walls of the veins after which the body then absorbs. After the EVT is completed, patients come back to Shannon for Sclerotherapy.

According to Shannon, most Sclerotherapy sessions are 15, 30 or 45 minutes. It usually takes 3 to 5 Sclerotherapy sessions for most patients. Sessions are spread out several weeks apart. Patients typically see the most improvement in 1 month with smaller improvements continuing for a longer period of time. Shannon mentioned that some patients come on their lunch hour or break and they can usually go right back to work According to Shannon, you do need to avoid sunlight afterwords. So most of her patients come during the fall and winter. Since Sclerotherapy is considered a cosmetic procedure, it is usually not covered by insurance.

Treatment Room
Currently Evanesce Sclerotherapy is open Mondays and some Saturdays. She started off seeing existing patients. She mostly relies on referrals to find new patients. While Shannon currently operates the business part time, she also works at a plastic surgeon's office. Her goal is to make Sclerotherapy her full time business.

While Sclerotherapy is usually done by Dermotologists, Shannon explained that she is very confident of her skills since this is her exclusive focus and she has done lots of procedures compared to many doctors who do Sclerotherapy on an occasional basis. In Massachusetts, you do need to be a Registered Nurse or higher to perform Sclerotherapy.


Friday, December 5, 2014

New Restaurant Planned for 120 Great Road

According to a legal notice, a new restaurant is planned for 120 Great Road. This location housed Optometrist James J Carroll. More details are expected to be revealed at the Bedford Planning Board meeting on December 9th. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Radio Shack in Great Road Shopping Center has Closed

The Radio Shack located in the Great Road Shopping Center at 331 Great Road is now closed. A sign on the door is advising customers to visit the Burlington location in the Burlington Mall.

While the store seems to have closed suddenly, the space has been listed for rent for the past few months and Radio Shack is currently closing a large number of existing store.

This closure comes a little over 2 months after Mattress World, which was located right next to Radio Shack, closed.

As far as other changes in the Great Road Shopping Center. The space currently occupied by Sparta is listed for rent, although it's has been listed for about 3 years now. Staples is expected to close about 170 of it's 1850 stores across North America in 2014 including 30 stores before the end of the year. Staples has not released a list of stores that it plans to close so it's unknown if the Bedford store will be one of them. Finally, Salem Five Savings Bank which is located adjacent to the Shopping Center is expected to open around December 10th.

Finishing touches are ongoing at the new Salem Five Bank


Monday, November 24, 2014

Kamate Fitness Moves to 153 Concord Road

Kamate Fitness has moved to 153 Concord Road, the former location of the Bedford Montessori School.

I recently spoke with Nancy Griffiths, founder and owner of Kamate Fitness. Nancy started her career as an Electrical Engineer and over the year worked her way to become a Vice President of operations.

Although she felt successful, she also felt something was missing in terms of fulfillment. Nancy has always been interested in fitness and had taken lots of dance classes in gyms. So she decided to start her own fitness company. She was familiar with the Lotte Berk Fitness Method but wanted to expand on it. She really liked the ancestral war dances (haka) from the Maori people of New Zealand. Of particular interest was the Ka Mate haka which is frequently performed by the New Zealand National Rugby Team.

Example of the Ka Mata haka by the New Zealand National Rugby Team.

From this the name, Kamate Fitness was born. After starting the company, she went to the Bedford Recreation Department to see if they could partner together in setting up the classes. She rented space from various locations around Bedford. According to Nancy, the recreation department handles the marketing, payment and registration of the classes and then submits payment (minus operation costs) to Kamate Fitness. She originally started with one class but quickly grew to 13 classes.

At this point she rented space at Callahan's Karate Studio at 20 North Road and teamed up with a few additional instructors. She then added a Children's program called Kid's Jam which is geared towards grades 3-5. She found as the kids approached 6th grade they were not as interested in dancing and tended to segregate by gender. In response she added some teen weightlifting classes geared towards grades 6-8. And then by 9th grade she found many kids become more interested in dancing again so she also added classes for high school students. With all the new classes and programs she was outgrowing her space and needed more room.

She wound up speaking to the First Baptist Church who had availability next door in it's newly renovated Connections Building after the Montessori School moved to it's new location at 8 Alfred Circle (off Wiggins Avenue) so she decided to sign a lease.

In addition to it's main room that will be used for classes, the new location has a kitchen and some additional downstairs space. Nancy feels it will be great to provide snacks as well as other activities such as Arts and Crafts for kids who may not be interested in dancing. She thinks the new facility will really help make the kids classes a viable after school program.

Main area where Kamate classes are held. The new location includes a basement with a Kitchen and additional space.
In addition to the classes and kids after school programs, the space will also be used by Kamate Fitness for occasional seminars and lectures as well as a fully social dance four times per year.

The Kamate classes contain elements of Weightlifting, Yoga and Pilates. Nancy refers to Kamate as Zoomba on Steroids and believes that since you are following the music you tend to work out a lot harder than you realize which makes it more effective. All the instructors are certified by Les Mills International and some of the classes are now available on Bedford TV.
 
According to Nancy, her classes tend to attract people who are not in to the gym scene. Ages usually vary from around 16 to the 60's with more Women than Men. Her main goal is on getting bodies moving and more active. She feels that there is not enough movement nowadays.

Her biggest enjoyment is to see Women who take the classes, and then watch them realize the empowerment of the class. Whereby they see how they worked to improve themselves physically and then realize they can do the same thing in other areas of their life such as work and relationships. Nancy see's the classes as a way to ignite the spark and be transformational in building confidence and more.

In addition to Bedford, she runs a similar program in Concord and is now just starting in Carlisle using the same method of working with the town's recreation department. She expect to continue "spiraling out from Bedford" in to other towns.

An open house was held on November 8th.



Comment:
The space itself is interesting in that while Kamate Fitness is renting it out from Church, it's really shared space since the Church will sometimes use it as well as other community groups such as the boy scouts. Similar to the newer companies of Airbnb, Hubway Bike Sharing and Zipcar, this is an "old world" example of the increasing relevance of the sharing economy in taking advantage of resources that are not fully utilized. Instead of staying empty when there are no classes, it can be used for other purposes.





Friday, November 14, 2014

Dalya's Restaurant Set to Close in December with a New Indian Restaurant Taking It's Place


After 20 years in business, Dayla's Restaurant at 20 North Road is expected to close on December 20th. The Restaurant has been owned by Frans and Mita van Berkhout since it opened in 1994. Dalya's was named after Frans three daughters DAnielle, LYdia, and Alexandra. Previous to Dayla's, Frans and Mita ran Le Bellcour in Lexington since 1978. According to a note sent out to friends of Dayla's, while they both still enjoyed owning Dayla's, Frans just turned 70 and is looking to retire. Many of the kitchen staff have been with them for 20 years or more.

In it's place, a new Indian restaurant named Holi is expected to open in February. The new restaurant will be run by Amarjit Singh, who currently is an owner at Zaika Indian Bistro on Main Street in Woburn.

Stay tuned for more details.

Comments:
Dayla's owners seemed to be well liked and respected in Bedford. It's good to see that the location will remain a restaurant.

Bedford has been lacking an Indian Restaurant. I expect it to be well received. With it's open location next to Bedford Farms, it also seems like a good place to add outdoor dining.



Monday, October 20, 2014

Cucina D Restaurant Opens on Middlesex Turnpike


Cucina D Restaurant opened October 1st at 54 Middlesex Turnpike in the space previously occupied by The Boardroom Bistro. I recently talked with the owner Damiano DiCenso.

Damiano's family has been in the restaurant business for many decades. His Grandfather, who first taught him how to cook, was the original head chef of Davio's on Newbury Street. Next Damiano worked under both his father and uncle at Donatello's on Route 1 in Saugus. In 2004, Damiano become the head chef at his brothers restaurant, Luna Rossa in Tewksbury.

While Damiano enjoyed working with his family, he wanted to strike out on his own. So a few years ago he started looking at locations for a new restaurant he would run. He actually took a look at this location over a year ago but was not yet ready to move forward. Then a few months ago he got another call from the owners of Boardroom Bistro (who own the entire building at 54 Middlesex) asking if he was still interested. He met with them and decided to move forward.

Renovations started on September 8th and the new restaurant opened in less than one month. The new restaurant has 96 inside seats as well as 12 outdoor seats. Food is now provided by waitress service with takeout available. 

New paint, ceiling, and replacing the old chess pieces with wine bottles led to a more upscale look.
The menu focuses on authentic Northern Italian cuisine. Most items are made in house including Cannoli's. Since the restaurant recently opened, Damiano is just doing soup specials but will soon be adding specials for appetizers, entrees and desserts along with drink specials. The restaurant can also provide party platters and mini-desserts for corporate catering. While they do not offer delivery for regular orders it is available for corporate catering and large orders. He thinks once people try his food they will want to come back.

In the bar section he added another wide screen television. There is a bar menu which includes slices of Sicilian style pizza, bar bites and Italian specialties. There is also a wide selection of beers including a number of gluten free brands.

This room can be rented out for corporate events and other activities. 
According to Damiano, so far the lunch business has been very good with lots of nearby workers as well as people from local apartments complexes such as Taylor Pond and Heritage at Bedford Springs. He is still working on increasing the dinner business. He's added a trivia night and is looking in to open mike nights and well as special events like paint nights where people without painting experience can eat, drink and paint with friends. Cucina D's is also participating in Flavors of Bedford which should give it exposure to a lot of Bedford and other nearby residents.

Since it's in an office building that houses workers during the day, there is dedicated restaurant parking at lunchtime.
Cucina D is currently open for Lunch Mondays, Lunch and Dinner Tuesdays to Fridays and Dinner on Saturday. 

Comment:
Boardroom Bistro did well at lunch but seemed to have had trouble attracting the dinner and after work crowd. While the menu at Boardroom Bistro seemed more suited for lunch, the Cucina D menu appears to be a better fit for both lunch and dinner which should be a plus. The owner does have a lot of restaurant  experience. Getting the after work crowd and dinner folks in will be key to it's success. It will be interesting to see how it does.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Simply Natural Nails Opens in New Location


Simply Natural Nails has moved to 119 Great Road, the former location of Bedford Cupcakes. The Salon had been located at 50 Loomis Street since it's opening almost four years ago. I recently spoke with it's owner Kimberly Fosmire.

While Kimberly thought the previous location functioned well, it was located in a basic office building and she had trouble finding a sign that would be highly visible from the street. So she decided to look for a location that had a cozier environment and higher visibility. The Salon opened at the new location on October 1st.

The interior has been totally redone bearing no resemblance to the former cupcake shop.
After Kimberly made the decision to move, she also figured it was a good time to upgrade a lot of the equipment. For example, she added new Belava Pedicure chairs. Unlike traditional spa chairs, these feature a single use liner to ensure that each customer gets the safest possible pedicure.

Belava Indulgence Pedicure chairs have a disposable liner to save water.
Along with the new location, Kimberly has added services such as eyebrow threading which is an 
an ancient hair-removal technique practiced in Asia and the Middle East. She recommends it as an alternative to waxing, especially if you have sensitive skin.

The new location has two fireplaces. One in the Nail room and the other in the Pedicure room.

According to Kimberly, her customers really like the new location telling her it has a much more homely feel.

The new Salon has an additional Nail station.
Currently Kimberly is actively looking to add a third employee so she can add services such as skin care and massage. She also just got approval from the Historic District Commission for a new sign which is expected to go up before the end of the month. The Salon is open Tuesday through Saturday.

The Salon Was Recently Feature in Nails Magazine.
Comment:
The past few years have seen several restaurants try to make a go at this location which seems hard pressed to attract street traffic. I'm guessing a service business will be a better fit.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Wall Bar Opens Inside The Great Wall Restaurant


The Wall Bar opened last Friday inside the Great Wall Restaurant at 309 Great Road in the Great Road Shopping Center. The new bar, which is sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant, features 8 seats at the actual bar and around 60 seats in the surrounding area.

The bar area features a mix of regular, high top, bar stool and booth seating.
While the Great Wall has had a full alcohol license and a service bar for many years, according to staff it was the recent changes to the Town of Bedford Alcohol Policy that made it a good time to move forward. Before the policy was updated in April, you had to order a full meal before you could order a drink. Many customers were going to Margaritas or Waxy O'Connors in Lexington.

The Great Wall staff felt there was no place in Bedford where you could get together after work or sports to meet up with friends for a drink and some food. Many Chinese restaurants have a bar, so they thought it would be a nice step up to add a sports bar.

The Wall Bar has five large screen TVs to watch sporting and other events.
Along with the interior renovation, The Great Wall also added a new cocktail menu along with several new bar type appetizers.


A new bar menu features several new appetizers
Currently the restaurant hours are the same (9:15 during the week and 10:15 on weekends) while they see how the new sports bar does. They do have the ability to stay open until 11 pm if there is demand.

Comment:
It's intriguing to see the economic effects of the updated alcohol policy. Along with the renovations to The Great Wall, the former Boardroom Bistro restaurant is undergoing a complete renovation and will soon re-open as an Italian Restaurant Cucina D. It will be interesting if the new sports bar can also attract events from Bedford groups, for example the Bedford Education Foundation has usually held it's Winter Bash event in Lexington.


Saturday, September 27, 2014

Demolition Begins at 54 Loomis Street for The Crossing Mixed Use Residential and Retail Project

Rear View of 54 Loomis Street Building Coming Down
After several delays, demolition is currently underway at 54 Loomis Street. The current building, which was last used as corporate offices for Pharmalucence Inc, was originally built in the 1960's as an ice skating rink.

Demolition Started at the Rear of the Building
The two new buildings, known as The Crossing at Bedford will house 19 apartments and just under 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. The project is expected to be completed by next Summer.

Artist Depiction - View from Loomis Street. This building will house retail on most of the first floor.

View from Depot Park. A new pathway on this side of the building will connect Loomis Street with the Bike Path

Front of Building B. This building contains some design elements similar to the Depot Building

Rear of Building B. This building is set back from Loomis Street



Saturday, September 13, 2014

Updates at Great Road Shopping Center: Great Wall Adds Sports Bar and Mattress World Closes

While there are ongoing renovations and lots of updates at Bedford Market Place, a few changes have also taken place at the Great Road Shopping Center.

Mattress World has now closed. The 5200 square foot space has been fully vacated. The company, which now has nine locations south of Boston, closed the Bedford location after being open less than two years and also recently closed their South Yarmouth store.

Right next door, The Great Wall Restaurant  is finishing up an interior renovation that adds a sports bar. While there were initial plans to add a sushi bar, the restaurant decided to add a sports bar featuring multiple large screen televisions. The new bar which is expected to open next week, has 7 bar stools along with a high top seating area. Stay tuned for more details next week.

It's interesting to see that the shopping center is also listing the adjacent Radio Shack space as available for lease although that store is still open. In addition, over the next year Staples (which also has a location in Great Road Shopping Center) is expected to close over 10% of it's stores in the United States. The list of locations that will be closing has not yet been announced.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Verizon Wireless Store Coming to Blue Ribbon Plaza

Interior work has started on what is expected to be a new Verizon Wireless store at 186 Great Road in Blue Ribbon Plaza. This space which is about 1500 square feet, was the former location of Quiznos which closed last December.

There was previously a Verizon Wireless store in Bedford Market Place. That store which was run by an authorized agent, closed suddenly in March of 2012 after being open for about 4 years.

It's interesting to note that the old Verizon store was replaced by Subway while the old Quiznos store was replaced by Verizon Wireless.

Stay tuned for more details.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Construction Underway on Salem Five Savings Bank

The new bank branch will be in the left half of the building 
Construction recently started on a New Salem Five Saving Bank branch at 285 Great Road which is the former location of the Travelodge Motel. Construction of the building is expected to be completed later this fall. The new bank includes a drive through. The new building will also have about 1600 additional square feet of rental space available for retail or office use.

It's interesting to note that while the size of this new bank branch is only about 2,000 square feet (which is smaller than average for freestanding branches), this follows the industry trend of smaller bank branches. During the last 10 years the average size of a new bank branch has decreased by about 25%.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Quick Update on Bedford Marketplace

Two Quick Updates on Bedford Marketplace.

1. Plans were recently approved for the next phase of reconstruction/expansion at Bedford Market Place. This next phase includes additional retail space adjacent to the Whole Foods and Marshalls. Whereas tenant negotiations are still ongoing, one of the new retail spaces is expected to feature a Pet Store. 

2. While the demolition of the Post Office distribution building is still expected soon, unconfirmed reports have indicated that the arrangement to move the distribution center to the TD Bank building at 175 Great Road have fallen through and that the Post Office may temporarily move Bedford mail distribution to the mail distribution facility in Burlington.

August 26th Update:
It now appears that the Post Office will be leasing part of the TD Bank Building but it will not be ready in time and that Bedford mail will be sorted in Burlington for a few months.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Bedford Market Place Renovation Begins


The renovation project at the Bedford Market Place Shopping Center began a few weeks ago. While plans were made for a complete overhaul of the shopping center including additional retail, updated parking lot/traffic flow configurations and pedestrian improvements; it looks like the work is going to be done in phases.

The first phase is expected to include a new facade for Whole Foods along with improvements to it's front parking lot. Work is expected to be completed before Labor Day.

The Bedford Whole Foods Market will be getting an updated exterior. The interior was renovated in 2013. Within the next 12 months, Whole Foods plans to renovate 70% of it's stores that are over 10 years old. 

The renovations will add additional retail space adjacent to both Marshalls and Whole Foods.

To prepare for the reconfiguration of the parking lot, the trees between Bedford Market Place and Blue Ribbon Plaza were removed.

During the next phase of construction, the Post Office distribution building will be torn down to make way for new retail space. 

The Bedford Post Office Mail distribution building is expected to move across the street to 175 Great Road. Although details are not yet finalized, the move could occur before the end of the year.

Artist depiction of the completed renovations including an updated exterior facade for Whole Foods along with the new adjacent retail space.

Stay tuned for more details in the next few weeks.


Monday, July 21, 2014

Boardroom Bistro Restaurant to Get New Owners and New Name

The Boardroom Bistro Restaurant at 54 Middlesex Turnpike will soon be getting new owners and a new name. David Smerling and Jeff Goldberg who opened the restaurants, will still own the office building where the restaurant is housed. The new restaurant which has a preliminary name of Cucina D, is expected to feature a new Italian cuisine based menu and should be getting the Boardroom Bistro's existing liquor license. Stay tuned for more details.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Great Wall Restaurant to Add Sushi Bar

The Great Wall Restaurant in the Great Road Shopping Center at 309 Great Road will soon be adding a Sushi Bar. The new Sushi bar is expected to have 7 seats. The restaurant will also be adding a few seats at the bar. The total number of seats is not expected to change.

Comments:
The Great Wall is one of the larger restaurants in Bedford with just under 250 seats. As the popularity of Japanese Restaurants has grown, many Chinese restaurants have responded by adding Sushi Bars. It will be interesting to see if this new Sushi Bar has any impact on Ginger, Asiana Bistro or Bamboo.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Designing Healthy Lives Moves To Bedford


I recently spoke with Danielle M. Beck, the owner of Designing Healthy Lives which provides individual Nutrition, Health and Wellness Counseling.

Danielle started out as a nutritionist and personal trainer with a emphasis on nutrition. She then ended up going to nursing school, became a registered nurse. Next she went back to school to get a MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) to become a board certified Nurse Practitioner (NP). After becoming a NP, Danielle ran a surgical service at the Boston VA. While she enjoyed the work and helping people, she found that the conventional methods were not for here and felt she would be able to help more if she could spend more one on one time with patients. So she decided to leave the VA and do some consulting. She always enjoyed nutrition counseling and thought she could combine that with her expertise in medicine to really help people.

In September 2013 she rented retail space in Cambridge and opened Designing Healthy Lives. However she quickly figured out that her business was not a typical retailer that relied on foot traffic. Danielle grew up in Bedford and recently moved back, so she thought it would be more effective to operate the business from her home on Pine Road in Bedford. At the start of the year, she went before the zoning board to get the permits needed to operate a home based business and started providing services in early February.

New clients usually come to her when they get sick of having problems and are looking to make changes. They typically find her via word of mouth. Her guiding principle is that the body is self healing. The correct nutrition can help the body get back in balance. Her focus in not on treating the symptoms but finding the root causes for the problem. Having a medical background is very helpful and she personalizes the counseling to each client. Her focus in on information and implementing long term changes that clients can live with.

With her new business,  Danielle likes the fact she can spend a lot more time with clients. Her typical appointments are about one hour and most people stay for 4-6 sessions. She does not take insurance but accepts Health Savings and Medical Savings Accounts (HSA/MSA's). She has also found that having her business at home offers a non-medical environment which has been a plus. Her clients range in ages from their 20's to their 70's.

In addition to the one on one and couples counseling, Danielle also provides Corporate Nutrition and Health Education Seminars.

Comment:
There are quite a few home based businesses in Bedford and the number seems to be increasing. While it's historically been fairly common in specific industries such as Psychiatry, the advances of technology have made it easier to have a home office and opened up new at home businesses opportunities.


Friday, May 30, 2014

Bedford Market Place Shopping Center Renovation Expected To Begin Soon

With the improving economy, the long awaited renovations to Bedford Market Place shopping center are expected to begin soon. The shopping center, which has Marshall's and Whole Foods as it's anchor tenants, had formalized plans for a renovation back in 2008 but the faltering economy put things on hold.

The original plans from 2008. While some changes are expected, the basic layout is expected to be retained. The Bedford post office retail store and the mail distribution building are likely to be relocated. Click on the image to zoom in
Stay tuned for more details.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Construction Continues on New Auto Repair Shop

The old garage has been torn down and is being replaced with this new building
Construction work continues at 50 Concord Road, former site of Bierens Garage. The new building will also be a garage and features three service bays. The future repair shop, which is owned by Richard Iovino, also has a used car license that permits it to be able to display up to 3 cars for sale at any one time. The retail name of the new business has not yet been established.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Mattress World and Radio Shack Space in Great Road Shopping Center Appear To Be Available To Lease

According to the Conviser Property Group who manages the leasing for the Great Road Shopping Center, the current spaces occupied by Mattress World and Radio shack are available for lease starting in June.

Stay tuned for more details.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Developments in the Depot District

A quick update on some developments going on in and around Depot Park (AKA The Depot District).


State Electric recently moved it's headquarters from Woburn to 2 DeAngelo Drive. The building which was originally built in 1974, underwent renovations before State Electric moved in.


Formulatrix a life science company currently in Waltham, will soon be moving to 10 DeAngelo Drive. The site is currently undergoing renovations. Interior building renovations are expected to begin shortly.

Demolition should be starting very soon at 54 Loomis Street. The new mixed used development, tentatively known as Bedford Place will have 2800 square feet of rental space available along with 23 apartments. The building is expected to be completed by May 2015. The retail space is now being advertised for lease.

Artist depiction of retail space at 54 Loomis Street


As reported previously, the retail space being developed at the back of the Bikeway Source bike shop at 111 South Road is just about complete. The new space which is about 1250 square feet, is expected to be ready by the end of the summer. Ken Larson the owner of the property has started to look for a tenant. According to Ken, the ideal tenant would be a shop that is locally owned and sells high-quality baked goods, breads and pastries as well as good-quality coffee.

The back of 111 South Road is now available for retail lease
As part of the renovation, The Bikeway Source has expanded their show room. Stay tuned for more details on their expansion.


And in Depot Park itself, additional renovation are underway at the Depot Building. The renovations include restoring the facade, replacing the current windows with a design that better matches the age of the building, making the first floor bathrooms handicap-accessible and adding a handicap accessible entrance ramp. After the renovations are complete, the space may once again become available for lease to retail and other tenants.