A Fine Line

Downtown Crossing’s struggle to become relevant, but remain inclusive to everyone.

By Patrick Strohecker, Ruobing Su, Ronnie Zhang

At 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday in early February, a flood of people exit the Boston Opera House along Washington Street following the conclusion of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The King of Opera: Love Never Dies.”

Just a few blocks away, at the intersection of Washington and Summer Streets, thousands of people walk through the bustling Downtown Crossing neighborhood from retail store to retail store. They funnel down side streets from Boston Common, exploring small specialty shops and searching for places to rest and grab a bite to eat, or pause for a minute to enjoy the street performances by local artists.

Downtown Crossing may or may not be the “hub” of Boston proper. There are plenty of other attractions in a city full of history that might draw the average tourist and new Boston residents more than a neighborhood that’s highlighted by shopping, food and entertainment.

But, as recently as 20 years ago, Downtown Crossing was hardly an attraction at all. It was a place that consisted almost exclusively of the daytime bustle of shoppers and office workers that went dark at night. Today, retail giants, new restaurants and revived forms of entertainment keep visitors busy deep into the night. The addition of high-rise, million-dollar condominiums are giving it a residential feel, as well. If Downtown Crossing isn’t the clear-cut first place to visit in Boston, it’s at least in the conversation.

“It’s not just a 9am-5pm [area] for the office workers,” said Paul Sauceda, the director of sales and marketing of Godfrey Hotel who has been working in the area for 10 years. “It creates something that people will hang out here later in the day.”

Photo: Downtown Crossing is one of the pedestrian-only zones in Boston. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang.)

Once Boston’s Fifth Avenue

Built in 1868 in Greek revival style, the building along Temple Place that now houses Stoddard’s Fine Food and Ale, is one of the oldest buildings in Downtown Crossing.

The area was once the Fifth Avenue of Boston, focused on shows and female fashion.

The neighborhood took a nosedive after World War II, becoming a place that shined during the day as a shopping center, but a lonely and desolate area after dark. Foot traffic and business in the neighborhood declined, with commercial retail institutions like Jordan Marsh’s and Filene’s closing in 1996 and 2006, respectively. Over time, the gutted interior of Filene’s - which, until recently couldn’t find an occupant for the historic space - became a symbol of decline in Downtown Crossing.

Renaissance and change

In 1996, David Ertischek, who now works for the Boston Improvement District - a non-profit organization setup to improve the neighborhood - was entering his freshman year at Emerson College.

“(Emerson) told me not to come to Downtown Crossing,” said Ertischek, referencing the high crime rate in the neighborhood.

Fast forward ahead two decades and Emerson has moved most of its campus to the area.

A neighborhood that used to be home to department stores like Filene’s, Jordan Marsh and Kresge’s have since left and been replaced by some of the world’s largest retailers. Macy’s bought out Jordan Marsh’s and has been in the area for two decades. More recently, European giant, Primark, made its American flagship store in Downtown Crossing along Washington Street, while Old Navy filled space next to it.

Photo: Millennium Tower stands out of Downtown Crossing area, filled the Great Hole and counted as the third tallest building in Boston. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang.)

For years, retail space of older department stores that left the area remained vacant, easily noticeable while walking in the four-block pedestrian-only zone. Recently, however, a number of the vacancies were rented out and are in the process of being reactivated. A literal hole in the ground occupied Filene’s basement in 2008 and was finally filled by Millennium Tower, a 60-story skyscraper with offices and luxury condominiums, that stands out from the rest of the historical buildings in neighborhood.

The construction of the Ritz-Carlton and Millenium Place at the south end of Washington Street has brought an influx of population since the turn of the millennium. According to the Boston Planning and Development Authority, the population of Downtown Crossing increased 44 percent from 2000 to 2010, compared to a 4.8 percent rise citywide.

“That’s what happens with change. People are brave,” BID brand marketing and activation manager George Comeau said. “They set forth looking for value and they move into a space thinking, ‘I know what’s going to happen here in the future.’”

Tying everything together in the city, particularly in this area, is the transportation. Downtown Crossing station is one of the most heavily-used stations in Boston, with a daily entrance of more than 25,500 passengers in 2010. MBTA lines intersect in and around Downtown Crossing, making it a prime location for high volumes of foot traffic from visitors, helping transform the neighborhood into one that appeals to everyone long after businesses close for the day.

Grappling With Change

Stoddard’s was one of the first restaurants to lay its foundation in the resurgent Downtown Crossing. The restaurant has only been open for a decade, but the history of Stoddard’s dates back to the 1800s as a variety of specialty services. In that time, Stoddard’s has been around to experience much of the change that has occurred in Downtown Crossing.

The renaissance of the neighborhood has made owning a restaurant in the area worthwhile. But, it’s also made owning an establishment in Downtown Crossing prime real estate, almost to a fault.

Co-owner and operator of Stoddard’s, Jamie Walsh, compares the evolution of Downtown Crossing’s restaurant industry to that of the Fenway area. There, more and more restaurant owners saw the perks of owning a business in an area of the city that could attract hundreds of thousand of people per night during baseball season, but needed to come up with ways to attract customers for more than just 81 home baseball games every year.

The same is beginning to happen in Downtown Crossing, with residents and visitors having more options to choose from to eat, thinning out the clientele.

“We’ve got good theater down here, good shopping. That’s going to create foot traffic,” Walsh said. “You start throwing in more restaurants, you start diluting that area, you’re still only serving the same 200 people, but now they’re going to start to thin out on a given Friday or Saturday night. So, guys like us, at Stoddard’s, we need to figure out other ways to create foot traffic, if not just for ourselves, but for the neighborhood.”

Just a few blocks away along Washington Street, Downtown Crossing’s nearest neighbor, Chinatown, is experiencing similar, drastic change.

A community rich with tradition from its homeland is quickly being transformed by gentrification. Rent prices are severely rising, both commercially and residentially, causing business owners and residents to reconsider calling Chinatown their home.

A Melting Pot


Neighborhoods throughout Boston all have their own distinct demographics.

But, Downtown Crossing prides itself in being a place that has a little bit of everything for everyone.

“When you’re talking Washington Street and you go all the way down into different neighborhoods, there are different demographics,” Ertischek said. “But, specifically talking about Downtown Crossing, it really is a crossing of lots of cultures.”

While much of Downtown Crossing has the outward appearance of new, glitzy buildings and stores, the character of the neighborhood still exists. In the span of a couple blocks, you can go from shopping at retail giants, to exploring novelty shops that have been in the neighborhood for decades.

Along Bromfield Street, local skate shop, One Gig, brings in customers from all over the world, but has a small-town vibe to it, promoting local artists with its apparel and custom skateboards and fashion. A few stores up is Bromfield Pen Shop, the last remaining pen specialty store from the 1950s. And Brattle Book Shop on West Street has been around since the mid-1800s and has occupied its current space since 1984.

Photo: Brattle Book Shop survived through the Great Boston Fire and its old loation now is used as an open slot for cheap books, as well as the "cliché" instgram spot in Boston. (Photo by Ruobing Su.)
Photo: One Gig, a specialty shop located in Downtown Crossing, promoting local artworks as well as skateboards and fashion. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang)
Photo: Bromfield Pen Shop is the only pen specialty shop that remains along the street since 1950. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang)
Photo: Colonial Trading Co. is one of the jewery trading stores in Downtown Crossing, symbolizes as a New England historical symbol. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang)
Photo: BID ambassador helped with the tourists and directions. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang)

“In many of the downtowns across the country...a lot of the downtown areas become, essentially, malls in a way,” said Ken Gloss, owner of Brattle Book Shop. “You can go to a Gap, or many of the stores anywhere and there’s less and less of the unique, smaller businesses. ...If you’re in Downtown Crossing, there are still a lot of businesses that are unique to the area.”

Outside of shopping, what attracts Bostonians and tourists to Downtown Crossing are the plentiful options of dining and theater. Over the course of an entire week, you can eat at seven different restaurants that represent seven different parts of the globe without even trying. Suffolk University’s multi-million-dollar investment to refurbishing and reopening the theaters has led to a burgeoning entertainment row that’s added to the shopping and dining experiences. At night, people from other parts of the city come to the area to grab drinks and enjoy leisure time after work, making the neighborhood lively and charming until Boston falls asleep.

The proximity to Chinatown adds another wrinkle in what’s helping to transform Downtown Crossing. People aren’t simply coming here to work or shop and then leave. They want to explore and being right next to the third-largest Chinatown in the country generates foot traffic of all races to get a taste - both literally and figuratively - of that culture and see what else the area offers.

The two neighborhoods feed off of each other in that regard. The uniqueness of each district helps the other by attracting customers, allowing for businesses to thrive. Visitors of Downtown Crossing can get authentic Asian cuisine, while stores in Downtown Crossing greatly thrive off of the Asian Market. According to Sauceda, approximately 13 percent of The Godfrey Hotel’s customer base comes from Asian markets.

“It is a great melting pot of all these different brands working cooperatively together that reinforce one another,” BID president and CEO Rosemarie Sansone said. “It’s everyone’s downtown.”

Explore Downtown Crossing on a Friday

Click to view the stores in Downtown Crossing and their operation hours throughout a Friday.
Note: The size of circles varies from time of operation for the stores.


Withstanding Problems

There’s no question that Downtown Crossing is prospering in a way that it hasn’t seen before. Peel back the curtains, though, and you’ll see that some of the neighborhood’s past still remains.

Drugs, crime and homelessness, all serious issues that plagued Downtown Crossing in prior decades, still persist. With the large number of stores, restaurants and businesses, the most common crime committed in Downtown Crossing is theft, while assault and vandalism regularly occur.

Downtown Crossing Facts
Infogram

But, perhaps the most serious threat to, not just the neighborhood, but across the state, is the opioid crisis. The Department of Public Health released figures for Massachusetts for the first nine months of 2017 and showed that there were already 932 confirmed opioid-related overdose deaths and another 491 to 582 estimated for the final three months.

“We have a terrible substance abuse problem here in the city of Boston and a lot of that, now, is focused in the Downtown area,” District 2 city councilor Ed Flynn said. “But, I also see the city coming together, working closely with the business community, elected officials and neighborhood groups to support people with substance abuse issues.”

Sustaining Progress

Change is happening all across Boston. Whether it’s for better or worse is up for debate.

Downtown Crossing has been a part of that transition, adding a positive dynamic to the city. It’s helped attract businesses, restaurants and, most importantly, people to the neighborhood to make it thrive.

Continuing to move forward is the biggest key, now. Helping the homeless find shelters and coming up with solutions to quell the opioid epidemic will only make the neighborhood stronger.


Photo: Paramount theater attracts hundreds of visitors everyday for great shows every day come to here, Downtown Crossing. (Photo by Ronnie Zhang.)

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