April 29, 2008...7:20 pm
Hanover’s Hood
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The neighborhood around the Hanover Theatre is still a bit rough, and Germain and Rosen want something to be done.
“There are a lot of businesses that need sprucing up…maybe some new businesses,” says Rosen. ”I’m not saying we strong arm business owners…but maybe the administration should talk to the [business] owners…and try to make that stretch of stores look better and serve the theatre crowd better.”
“Can we come up with a game plan, a blue print for that [area] of the city?” asks Germain. ”A facade program, anything to make that area more appealing for theater-goers.”
While tax incentives or a facade program would be a huge help, they must have missed our news that something is going to happen down there.
8:20
3 Comments
April 30, 2008 at 8:06 pm
They are all just looking to get a little bit of a rub when the area is (hopefully) gentrified within the next year or so.
I actually was out in the lobby on Saturday while Loretta Larouche was on stage and 1,500 middle aged ladies in the seats not more than 100 feet behind me in the theater looking out on Federal Square and the comings and goings out on the street. At that point it became clear to me that the redesign of the park there was in fact a good thing.
Certainly the area is a bit sketchy. Most volunteers walk in groups back to their cars etc. But methinks there is money to be made behind some of those storefronts because the Hanover will be a viable venue.
April 30, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I don’t see any reason why places like Elite Billiards and the Red Baron cannot adapt and take advantage of the inevitable gentrification of Federal Square. If you have a business in an area where there is that much of an increase in foot traffic of people with money in their pockets and you can’t take advantage of it the only finger pointing you should be doing is in the mirror.
May 1, 2008 at 12:23 am
Johnnie D’s in Davis Square-Somerville was a bucket of blood in it’s day when Johnnie D ran it…then his wife and daughter took ovah and it is now a premier music scene and has been for 15+ years..rarely tho are biz owners who have run a dive for years able to move to another level..it takes more than a new facade..biz owners usually have to raise prices to move out the rif raf, remodel..be able to hang on while biz slows down and then hopefully improves as a bettah clientel starts supporting the changes….few are willing to do this.
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