Boston Common may soon welcome diners

07/01/09Boston Common, table for two?

Boston city officials said that Boston Common could very soon be a destination for diners, along with a handsome new revenue source for the city. The city is eyeing two unused, dilapidated areas on the Common to be leased for future eateries and "world class cafes," attracting the attention of Boston business-owners and restaurateurs alike.

City Council President Michael Ross said the project, which was addressed at city council hearing June 18, seeks to emulate New York City's bustling parks by adding restaurants or cafes to public spaces, thus restoring the "vibrancy of (the) Boston Common," America's oldest public park.

Emerson College, which held the lease to one of the locations at the corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets, has opted to hand over the rights for its longtime summer satellite location of Emerson's Cafe, following 12 years of operation and a $610,000 loss in financing, comprised of $250,000 in infrastructure improvements, and a $30,000 annual cost for the cafe to remain open. The cafe originated from a city request that Emerson create a more "welcoming" public space for that area of the Common, once a haven for drug deals and crime.

"The City of Boston asked if Emerson would be willing to relinquish our license early and allow the city to resume its use of the property," said Emerson spokesman Andrew Tiedemann.

Now, the space once occupied by Emerson's is already rumored to have a new lessee. Babak Bina, one of two proprietors of BiNA Osteria, a new Italian eatery and shop at 581 Washington St., appears to have taken over the lease with plans for a new food stand, a source who wished to remain anonymous said.

Next, the city will open up bidding for what city councilor Michael Ross hopes to be "a more sophisticated establishment" than Emerson's, this one at an abandoned structure near the Common's tennis courts called "pink palace," an old public men's restroom which has fallen into severe disrepair.

Garrett Harker, owner of several of Boston's busiest eateries, said "my motivation (to attend the council meeting) was based on curiosity -- restaurants can be a vital force in revitalizing neighborhoods," said Harker. He added that it was also his commitment to see Boston thrive.

"I love this city, and I think the Common has such a strong potential and gravitational pull for the city than the way it's right now being used," he said.

Gregory Selkoe, who lives and works close to the Boston Common, said "I want to give my strong support to this idea, I think it would be terrific for people to have more options for eating other than a restaurant that costs you $35 to have lunch," he told city council at the hearing.

Despite the high cost of operations, one city official said the project will likely yield "megabucks," as more epicurean tourists flock to the Common in search of reasonable, great-tasting fare.

The city plans to start taking bids for the "pink palace" space early next year.

Boston Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollack in a recent letter to the Editor of the Boston Herald said, "the re-use of historic structures has long been a goal of Mayor Menino and the Parks Department in America's oldest park...this 660-square-foot structure may provide a unique opportunity for a stand-alone food service, however it is not large enough to support a full-scale restaurant," she wrote.