Kraft Scores Touchdown With Patriot Place
New 1.3 million-square-foot development to bring winning combination of retail, restaurant, medical office and hotel uses adjoining the New England Patriots’ Gillette Stadium.
Randall Shearin

Patriot Place will feature retail, restaurant, medical office and hotel uses.

When the Kraft family purchased Foxboro Stadium, and subsequently the New England Patriots in the mid-1990s, they knew they had to do something to do something special. Foxboro Stadium, the Patriots’ previous home, was built in 1970 and regarded as one of the worst venues in the NFL. The Kraft family committed to building a new stadium for the team. When the decision was made for the stadium to be on the same site as Foxboro Stadium, along Route 1 between Boston and Providence, the Kraft family knew the 700-acre parcel it had acquired could be more than just a stadium.

After Gillette Stadium was completed in 2002, the family began questioning what it should do with some of the remaining acreage. Hotel chains and movie theaters were interested as were many big box retailers. The Kraft family engaged a number of retail consultants and an architect, Arrowstreet, to help with master planning for the site. With the help of its advisors, the Kraft family realized it had a place to create a one-of-a-kind super-regional retail center for New England.

Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, is located in an affluent area between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, that is attractive to national retailers.

The end result of years of planning is Patriot Place, a 1.3 million-square foot center with an initial phase that opened last month, and the balance opening in 2008 that will be anchored by retail, restaurant, medical office and hotel uses.

Shopping Center Business recently visited with Jonathan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group; Ted Fire, director of development for Patriot Place; Randy Goldstein, development leasing director for Patriot Place; and Peter Belsito, president of Strategic Retail Advisors, who is handling retail leasing for the center. While inside the Patriots’ offices at Gillette Stadium, SCB received a construction tour of the project.

So why haven’t you heard much about Patriot Place? The Kraft Group is not a traditional retail developer, and it admits it withheld much of the details so it could open the project with a bang.

“In our other businesses we don’t like to talk about what we are doing; we like to do it,” says Jonathan Kraft. “We’re excited about Patriot Place and we’re just now at a point where we feel comfortable about the pieces that are in place and what is actually being done. The project is financed, we’re under construction, and we’ve opened the first phase.”

Gillette Stadium sits in an area that has 500,000 people within a 20-minute drive time who make greater than $100,000 per year. That makes the site very attractive to national retailers.

New England’s first and only Bass Pro Shops — the back of which is shown here — will help anchor Patriot Place, a new 1.3 million-square-foot center under development by the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots.

“With that kind of data point, we figured we could be very successful as a super-regional center,” says Fire. “We are not retail developers by tradition or background. By plugging into consultants, we learned about uses like Bass Pro Shops, a movie theater and restaurants that could make a regional center that would stand out. At the same time, a 100,000-square-foot medical office component came into play.”

“We wanted to build something that was truly unique,” says Kraft. “There really isn’t much unique destination retail in New England. We knew landing Bass Pro Shops would be the first step of success. We’re not a traditional developer in that we are not creating something in the usual way. This isn’t a project that will be flipped after it is developed. Our family is here for the long run. The team and the stadium are very important assets of The Kraft Group. We plan on owning them for a long time.”

The retail component at Patriot Place.

The retail at Patriot Place is divided into two components. One is a power center, anchored by New England’s first and only Bass Pro Shops, as well as Christmas Tree Shops, Bed Bath & Beyond and Circuit City. All of these retailers opened in November. A second phase of big box retailers, including Staples, Off Broadway Shoes and others, will open in spring 2008.

The second part of the retail is a large lifestyle and entertainment center, located a few hundred yards away. A central promenade in this part of Patriot Place winds its way past retailers and restaurants, leading to the Hall at Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium. The lifestyle and entertainment portion of the center is divided into zones. There will be a “Kids & Family” zone, anchored by the likes of Red Robin, McDonald’s and Old Navy. “Juniors Entertainment & Apparel” will be anchored by Victoria’s Secret, Hollister and additional apparel. With retail space at a premium in New England, there has been no shortage of retailers interested in Patriot Place. Davio’s, the top Italian restaurant in Boston, is opening its third location at the center. Reebok is opening an experiential location at the center as well that will offer the company’s full line of merchandise. Yard House is also planning to open a location at the center.

In addition to the unique retailers, Patriot Place will also be anchored by The Hall at Patriot Place, a 40,000-square-foot museum/hall-of-fame that will showcase football in New England. The Kraft Group is spending over $15 million to build it.

“It is our goal to build the most trafficked retail and entertainment destination in New England,” says Kraft. “If you look at a 2-hour driving radius from Patriot Place, you have more than 10 million people with high disposable income. We believe that we can program the center with the tenants and attractions to bring families for the entire day for an experience they can’t get anywhere else in the region.”

In addition to the unique retailers, Patriot Place will also be anchored by an experience called The Hall at Patriot Place. This 40,000-square-foot combination museum/hall-of-fame filled with 21st-century technology will showcase football in New England. The Kraft Group is spending more than $15 million to create The Hall at Patriot Place. The Hall will take visitors through the history of the New England Patriots, as well as the heritage of football in New England, including Pop Warner and high school leagues. The hall leads visitors to the Patriot’s pro shop, which will stand at 15,000 square feet. The Hall, as well as the pro shop, are expected to draw hundreds of visitors per day to Patriot Place.

National Amusements, also based in the Boston area, is locating a state-of-the-art 14-screen movie theater at Patriot Place. As part of the movie theater, National Amusements is partnering with The Kraft Group to create a 500-seat live events venue. “Showcase Live at Patriot Place” will host events that would normally be held at a stand-alone jazz or comedy club. The theater deal evolved from discussions between the Kraft family and the Redstone family, who own and operate National Amusements, and Viacom. The relationship between the Kraft family and Brigham & Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals also forged the deal for the medical office component of Patriot Place.

The first of two hotels to break ground is a 150-room Renaissance Hotel & Spa that will open in fall 2008.

Two hotels are also planned for the center. The first to break ground is a 150-room Renaissance Hotel & Spa that will open in the fall of 2008. The hotel has the capability to expand to another 100 rooms.

Gillette Stadium itself is a busy place. More than 500 people work in the offices of The Kraft Group, the holding company of the Kraft family’s varied business interests. The medical office component, operated by Partners Healthcare, a combination of Massachusetts General and Brigham & Women’s Hospitals, will also house about 500 daily workers. In July and August, the Patriots hold their training camps, which are open to the public, on the grounds, attracting 10,000 visitors per day. The club area of the stadium, as well as the field house, are rented for special events almost daily. In addition, events like the collegiate lacrosse championship are held at the stadium some weeks. In 2006, the stadium was used for events 360 days out of the year.

The balance of Patriot Place, now under construction, is expected to open in 2008. Pictured here are Peter Belsito, president of Strategic Retail Advisors, who is handling retail leasing for the center, and Ted Fire, director of development for Patriot Place.

But the Krafts know that the stadium alone will not make retailers at Patriot Place happy.

“Patriot Place is not just geared around game day,” says Fire. “It’s obvious that all the tenants will thrive on game day, but the center is located and designed so that it will be successful the 355 other days in the year. The mix that we have put together attracts more than just the local trade area.”

One of the cornerstones to the center’s regional success was landing Bass Pro Shops as an anchor. Usually, Bass Pro won’t locate without economic development assistance. In this case, there wasn’t any available, so the Kraft family stepped and filled in to make the deal happen.

The Kraft family’s commitment to Patriot Place has been a huge part of its success.

“We are businesspeople,” says Jonathan Kraft. “At the end of the day, we have an incredible asset with this location and infrastructure. We knew we couldn’t let this asset lie around and not maximize it to its full potential.”

Left to right: Randy Goldstein, development leasing director; Jonathan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group; and Ted Fire, director of development for Patriot Place.

The Kraft Group owns additional land around Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium where further expansions could be built in the future. The Kraft Group plans on owning, managing and operating Patriot Place as it opens.

“We build businesses and we run them,” says Kraft. “We’re not speculators. We like to think something through, create a plan, execute it, hire great people to work with us, and then let them manage it and run it. The case is the same whether it is a manufacturing or distribution business or a shopping center.”