The News On Newbury Street
The Wilder Companies’ newest urban retail project will redevelop a historic building in Boston’s Back Bay area.
Katie Foxworth

Fifth Avenue. Rodeo Drive. Worth Avenue. Some retail streets simply define high-end shopping sophistication at its upper crust best. And don’t overlook Boston’s Newbury Street, located in the city’s historic Back Bay district. With heavy hitters like Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Armani, Brooks Brothers and Burberry in its lineup, Boston’s Newbury Street easily finds itself in the same league as the big boys when it comes to luxury retail.

The Newbry will feature three floors of retail in this historic office building in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.

“It is probably the most exciting retail opportunity to come along in Boston’s Back Bay in many, many years,” says Andrew T. LaGrega, a principal of Boston-based The Wilder Companies, which has been named retail development consultants on the project. Wilder will also handle retail leasing.

Just imagine: you have one of the most famous retail corridors in the world and suddenly 150,000 square feet of retail space opens up. The 600,000-square-foot building spans the entire city block between Newbury Street and Boylston Street, which has become quite a dominant retail corridor in its own right during the last decade, with tenants such as Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware and some of the finest restaurants in Boston. Such a rare and fantastic opportunity is precisely why The Wilder Companies was so attracted to the Newbry redevelopment.

“It is going to change this section of Newbury Street,” LaGrega says. “There are very few spectacular retail streets in the world, and Newbury Street is one of them. And to have 150,000 square feet available is just a tremendous opportunity.”

Centered in the heart of the Back Bay, the New England Life Building was erected in 1941 as an institutional office building housing the corporate headquarters of New England Life and, subsequently, MetLife Inc. for the past 60 years. In December 2002, 501 Boylston Street Property LLC, an affiliate of Beacon Capital, purchased the building from MetLife, currently the building’s major tenant. Now MetLife will consolidate its operations and space within the building in order to make room for more office space as well as two additional floors of retail.

“The existing retail in the building was basically one floor, and now we’re converting it to three floors,” LaGrega explains. “The two-level tenants are really driving the project for now because the demand for one-level tenants is tremendous. We have a waiting list. We’re trying to select the best two-level tenants to divvy up the 150,000 square feet and achieve the best tenant mix possible.”

LaGrega says his company is talking to international, national and even local retailers. “I think you’ll see apparel, home furnishings and a book component,” he says. “The co-tenancy that we can deliver — in addition to the surrounding neighbors of this location — are the Who’s Who of retailers.”

The main lobby in The Newbry building will be improved and restored to its original Art Deco luster.

In this case, Wilder’s goal is to reconnect the 10-story New England Life Building to its unique urban roots by creating a focal point on all three streets that it fronts (Newbury, Boylston and Clarendon streets). As it stood formerly — as an office building — the space was somewhat removed from its vibrant retail surroundings. Now it is hoped that 501 Boylston Street will once again serve as a center of retail action in the bustling Back Bay neighborhood. Upon completion of all improvements, including restoration of the Art Deco lobby, Beacon Capital’s investment in The Newbry will total approximately $185 million.

As any urban in-fill developer can attest, adaptive reuse of historic space is never easy. One challenge is finding a way to adapt the institutional office space to accommodate retail, while still preserving the building’s historic architecture up to Back Bay Architectural Commission standards. LaGrega is confident, though, that the renowned Elkus-Manfredi architectural firm is up to the task.

“The challenge is creating great street retail,” LaGrega says. “One of the real advantages of this building, though, is the fact that it is right on grade. Many of the buildings on Newbury Street, you have to either walk down steps or walk up steps.”

According to LaGrega, the project will begin delivering space to tenants in spring 2005, with a completion date set in time for the 2005 holiday season. “The reception from the community has been spectacular,” he says. “They’re looking forward to the remerchandising of this building. The focus of the building in the past — even though it is probably the best retail location on both Newbury and Boylston streets — has always been an office building. So one of the reasons for the repositioning and renaming of the building is to give it a whole new focus for retail.”

WILDER COMPANIES’ OTHER NORTHEAST PROJECTS The Wilder Companies is also busy with many other projects in the Northeast, including leasing The Crossing at Walkers Brook, a new 400,000-square-foot development of Quincy, Massachusetts-based Dickinson Development in Reading, Massachusetts. The Crossing at Walkers Brook in Reading, Massachusetts, has a unique vertical-box design. The $90 million project will be anchored by New England’s leading and most innovative furniture retailer, Jordan’s Furniture, with its largest store to date in 260,000 square feet of space. Also included will be an IMAX theater, a 135,000-square-foot Home Depot (now open) and 80,000 square feet of lifestyle merchants and restaurants, including Chili’s. Located on the site of a former municipal landfill, The Crossing at Walkers Brook offers a unique vertical-box design, with The Home Depot and Jordan’s Furniture sharing a common footprint as the project’s anchor centerpiece. Carter & Burgess is designing the center with a village-type, pedestrian-friendly atmosphere. “Our focus has changed from regional malls to more open-air street retail,” says Andrew T. LaGrega, a principal with The Wilder Companies, which currently boasts a portfolio of more than 35 owned and managed properties nationwide. “At one time, we had 15 million square feet of regional malls throughout the country and Puerto Rico. Over the last few years, we’ve phased ourselves out of that.” Jordan’s Furniture, an IMAX theater and Home Depot will anchor The Crossing at Walkers Brook in Reading, Massachusetts. The Wilder Companies is leasing the center. The Wilder Companies still has one remaining regional mall in its portfolio: Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois. The center is a joint venture between Wilder and the Long/Pehrson Family. Yet even at Yorktown Center, things are moving in an open-air direction. “We’re actually planning a 200,000-square-foot expansion of outdoor specialty street retail as a component to Yorktown Center,” LaGrega says. Another center Wilder is developing is Taunton Crossing in Taunton, Massachusetts. The 80,000-square-foot center will be anchored by T.J. Maxx and Pier 1 Imports. Smokey Bones and Olive Garden are now under construction. “We also handle all the retail for International Place, a 1.8 million-square-foot office building in the financial district of Boston,” LaGrega says. “We have some very upscale sit-down restaurant opportunities in that building.” Recently added to the atrium level of International Place were Finagle A Bagel and Starbucks, while Au Bon Pain also renewed and expanded its 3,500-square-foot lease. Wilder also handles the retail leasing at CityPlace, another urban building in Boston. Located in 55,000 square feet on the first level of the State Transportation Building, CityPlace includes several restaurants, a food court and retail shops in the heart of Boston’s theater district. “We’ve been remerchandising [CityPlace] for the last several years,” LaGrega says. “We recently brought in P.F. Chang’s, a high-end furniture operation called Shoomine, Rock Bottom Brewery, California Pizza Kitchen and Cold Stone Creamery.” — Katie Foxworth