Category Archives: Downtown

From Scratch doing dinner Wed – Sat

Posted on April 11, 2013 | Comments Off on From Scratch doing dinner Wed – Sat

Our family’s favorite breakfast place in Medfield, From Scratch,  has started doing dinners.  It is now open until 8 PM on Wednesdays to Saturdays.  Kristen and Deb just gave me the news that the food is great – the Chicken Alfredo reportedly allowed one to taste each of its elements, and was completely finished.  It is great to have a new family dinner option in town.

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Posted in Business, Downtown, Entertainment

On being a selectman

Posted on March 29, 2013 | Comments Off on On being a selectman

Busy week with lots of time demands –

  • Saturday – excellent 3 hour session put together by Bob McDonald, Chief Operator of the Waste Water Treatment Plant on installing alternative energy around town, including a solar PV array at the Waste Water Treatment Plant.
  • Superintendent finalists – lunch Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with the three finalists.  I was glad that one selectman was able to attend, and that I now have great confidence in the person who will be leading our schools.
  • Energy Committee Tuesday evening to discuss the Saturday Waste Water Treatment Plant program, and future inititives.
  • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) explanation at Medfield High School Wednesday evening.
  • Downtown Study Committee last night to hear about the cost to bury utility lines in the downtown.  Comcast representative estimated the costs at $100,000 – 125,000/1,000′ for Comcast, slightly more for Verizon, and a lot more, $1m./1,000′, for NSTAR.
  • Medfield State Hospital Development Committee last night too, to mainly discuss demolition costs of the buildings, town control of site by purchasing it, and how to respond to DCAM’s letter offering to sell the Medfield State Hospital site to the town on vague terms.  A follow up discussion with DCAM is required to clarify the DCAM terms.   Bill Massaro’s rough estimates to demolish all the building at the Medfield State Hospital were $2.3 m. if done without complying with prevailing wage laws, but $7.3 m. if prevailing wages had to be paid (I.e. – if it were done by the town).

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Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, Development, Downtown, Energy Committee, Medfield State Hospital, On being a selectman, Planning, Schools

Chinese take out locating on North St.

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Chinese take out locating on North St.

I spoke to the owner of the proposed Chinese food take out restaurant on Saturday that is looking to move into the old fish store on North Street.  I asked him about what it would be. He gave me his card and explained that he has been in Wellesley for years as China Sky, and that one of his customers suggested the Medfield space to him. See www.chinaskyrestaurant.com.

Years ago, the Downtown Study Committee consultant’s report suggested that the businesses on that block open themselves up to the parking in the middle of the block, which sounds like what was presented to the planning board, and that block become the center of the downtown.  I hope the plans call for a customer door to the back parking lot.

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Posted in Business, Downtown

Celebrate Lord’s tonight

Posted on February 15, 2013 | Comments Off on Celebrate Lord’s tonight

6:30pm to 9:30pm tonight, Lord’s Department Store, Medfield. Refreshments, entertainment, memorabilia, gift basket giveaways, and more. Bring your favorite memory on 8.5×11 paper for Memory Book, have photo taken at Lunch Counter, hear speakers from 7:30-8pm, enjoy ginger ale toast at 8pm.

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Posted in Business, Downtown

Lord’s party this Friday

Posted on February 11, 2013 | 1 comment

I was asked to post the following –

The Medfield Remembers Lord’s committee will host a “Celebrate Lord’s” event on Friday, Feb. 15 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the iconic store that will be closing after 73 years in business.  The public is invited to Lord’s Department Store to enjoy refreshments (including cake and traditional half donuts), entertainment, a Lord’s-Through-The-Years memorabilia corner, gift basket giveaways, and more.  People are encouraged to bring along their favorite Lord’s memory on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper to be inserted into the Lord’s Memory Book.  Memories can also be emailed to MedfieldRemembersLords@yahoo.com or posted on the “Medfield Remembers Lord’s” Facebook page.  Special events will include photos at the Lord’s Lunch Counter (6:30pm to 7:30pm), Community Recognizes Lord’s (7:30pm to 8pm), and a ginger ale toast (8pm).

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Posted in Business, Downtown

MHS Jazz Band at Lord’s

Posted on January 11, 2013 | Comments Off on MHS Jazz Band at Lord’s

From Chirs McCue Potts –

For years, Lord’s has generously sold tickets to high school music performances, plays, Trolley Tours and other community events.

As a thank you to Lord’s, and as a way to provide some musical therapy to its owners and loyal customers, members of the MHS Jazz Band will be performing at the store from Noon to 1 p.m., tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 12.

Tickets will also be on sale for the Jazz Band’s Feb. 2 “Jazzin’ for China” fundraising event at The Center at Medfield. This is the last community event that Lord’s is selling tickets to before it closes. Individual tickets are $50; $5 discount available per ticket when purchased as a table. For more information: http://www.medfield.net/wheel/images/epacket/JAZZIN_For_China_02022013.pdf

Please stop into Lord’s tomorrow, and express your own appreciation for the support the Kelly family and Lord’s staff has provided to our local community groups over the years.

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Posted in Downtown, Music

Lord’s site future

Posted on January 8, 2013 | 3 comments

The new owner of the Lord’s site reportedly told town officials, while the deal to buy the Lord’s site was still in the works, that

  1. they had no actual new tenant(s) lined up for the site,
  2. they were thinking of wrapping the building’s exterior façade in brick so as to match and continue the brick fronts of the adjoining buildings right on around the corner onto South Street, and
  3. they were thinking of dividing the space to make three separate stores.

3 Comments

Posted in Downtown

Business of Medfield is homes

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 comments

Yesterday, on my way to Shaw’s for the weekly groceries, I made what was for me a long postponed first visit to an open house at Olde Medfield Square, and learned several surprising things.

20130107-Olde Medfield Square-picture

  • it is comprised of 42 customized and all different condo units of 2-3,000 sq. ft. each, on a total of under 7 acres, each selling for upwards of $1 m.
  • 2 school children total live in the 25-27 homes that have been sold – one of whom just moved in and the other will graduate come June (so, basically, one school child)
  • property taxes to the town will run $600,000+ per year, making it a major revenue generator, profit center for Medfield
  • no architect was used, instead Ralph Costello, the developer, Sharon Bartelloni, his Marketing Director, and their staff just work out each unit on their own, saving about $25,000 per unit per Ralph
  • they have copyrighted each design, so they can easily replicate the homes
  • they have had requests form municipal officials in other towns, asking them to replicate the whole project in their towns
  • original plans to construct four large five unit buildings along Rte. 27 were altered when they learned people preferred the detached, but closely situated units
  • this density is allowed, as of right, in our RU zone in the downtown.
  • I really like the look from having the garages in the rear
  • while the units are close together, one can see that the fenestration is planned mainly on only one side of each unit, so that adjoining units  do not have the feel of looking into one another’s homes

Lessons for Medfield:  The business of Medfield can be providing the housing that draws people to town, as it is not just the schools that draw people to town.  Given Medfeld’s distance from major highways, it will always be a hard sell to get large businesses and retail to locate in Medfield, so we cannot count on expanding our tax base in reliance on those fronts.  Therefore, the town will be better served in the long run if it actively promotes more of the type of housing, such as Olde Medfield Square, that requires few municipal services.  Such projects will balance our existing single family housing stock which attracts the high numbers of school children.

Ten years ago, as a new selectman attending a seminar on municipal issues sponsored by the Attorney General, I heard the former town planner for Lexington say that his studies in Lexington discovered that it averaged 1.5 school children per single family detached house, but only 0.15 school children per unit in attached housing.  He recommended to us was building housing to increase our tax base, but the “right” type of housing.

The Olde Medfield Square example shows us that it it not just attached units that have fewer school children, it is also the densely packed detached units without yards large enough for a swing set.  In addition to having dramatic curb appeal and providing a different housing option, these homes are a real fiscal win for the town.

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Posted in Budgets, Development, Downtown, Planning, Town Services, Zoning

Lord’€™s t-shirt benefits Bill Kelly scholarship

Posted on January 7, 2013 | Comments Off on Lord’€™s t-shirt benefits Bill Kelly scholarship

This from Cris McCue Potts –

Lord’€™s t-shirt benefits Bill Kelly scholarship

In response to customer requests for a Lord’€™s souvenir after it was announced the store would be closing at the end of February, Nancy Kelly-Lavin is now taking pre-orders for a first-ever Lord’€™s t-shirt with 100 percent of the profits going to a scholarship fund in the name of her father and long-time Lord’s owner Bill Kelly, “€œwho is still the heart and soul” of Lord’€™s after passing away last spring, said his daughter.

“€œIt seemed the moment the word got out about the store closing, I’€™ve had a flood of requests from people coming into the store looking for souvenirs,”€ said Kelly-Lavin.   “€œI hope by creating and selling t-shirts, and directing the profits toward a scholarship fund to benefit the Medfield community and pay tribute to my dad, we can bring a little bit of comfort to people who are sad to see the Lord’s legacy coming to an end.”

It will take about a week for the shirts to arrive, so Lord’€™s is taking pre-orders (and flat donations to the Bill Kelly scholarship fund) at the front counter. Youth shirts are $10 each for medium to extra large; adult medium to XL shirts are $15 each; and XXL shirts are $18. Shirts will be short sleeved, grey, with the trademark red Lord’€™s logo prominently displayed.

One of the store’€™s sales staff noted that the Lord’€™s owners have never been a fan of self-promotion, so other than a postcard featuring the store’€™s neon sign, it has shied away from selling merchandise that touts the store’€™s name. The Lord’€™s t-shirt will mark the first time in its 73-year history that the store will sell an apparel item featuring its own name.

Lord’€™s Department Store will close Feb. 28.

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Posted in Charity, Downtown

Lord’s sold

Posted on January 3, 2013 | 1 comment

Patch is reporting the sale and closing of Lord’s, the store that sold everything and that gladly handled the sale of tickets for all the local community events.

The Lord’s store property appears to have been purchased by the same company that is exploring siting a Starbucks at the old Mobil gas station site next to the Town House.

The deed, which was recorded at the Norfolk Registry of Deeds on 12/31/12, lists the buyer as an LLC named for the street address.  It is common for attorneys to recommend a separate LLC for each property owned.  However, the required mailing address for that LLC is the same office address as Salvatore Capital Partners, LLC and GJS Management, LLC, 858 Washington Street, Suite 309, Dedham, MA 02026, which is the entity working on the Starbucks deal.

When Nancy Kelly-Lavin told me of the sale a couple of days ago (she asked me not to say anything, but where Nancy has given the story to Patch, I have been released) , she said that the buyer had not said what they intended for the site.  However, the Salvatore Capital Partners, LLC website lists the firm’s clients, three or four of which struck this reader as possible candidates:  Bertucci’s, Trader Joe’s, Eastern Bank, and/or Walgreens.

Massachusetts deeds are required to list the full consideration, and this one says the property sold for $1,725,000.   The deed says the premises contains about 38,615 sq. ft., slightly less than an acre.

I hope the Medfield Memorial Library parking that the Kelly’s have graciously been providing at the back of their lot gets continued.

I also hope that the Kelly family enjoys the accolades that are sure to come their way in the next couple of months, for having been such a huge part of the recent history of the Town of Medfield.  As I told Nancy this week, Mr. Kelly was the perfect retailer, whose smile and compelling nature always made you feel welcome.  Nancy and Tom have well maintained what Mr. Kelly originally sowed, but it was all of we residents who reaped the substantial harvest that has been having  Lord’s in our downtown.

Mrs. Kelly, Tom, and Nancy – we recognize that change happens, and we wish you all well in your new endeavors, but please know that we will miss you and Lord’s terribly.  I thank you for all the many things that you have done for the Town of Medfield.

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Posted in Downtown