Historical Commission Approves Restructing of Grendel's, Tweeter

Next time you eat at Grendel's Den Restaurant, be sure to stop and take in the scenery, because it may not be the same for long.

Last Tuesday, the Cambridge Historical Commission approved plans for a major restructuring of the area surrounding the restaurant.

After months of wrangling, the owner of the property, Eliot Square Development Corporation (ESDC), finally presented a plan acceptable to the Commission.

The rebuilt area will include a new seven-story residential building to be built behind Grendel's, on the current site of the Holy Cross Armenian Catholic Church and the Shilla Korean and Japanese restaurant.

But the plan is not a sure thing just yet, cautions the commission's executive director, Charles M. Sullivan. It must first be approved by the City Planning Board in hearings to be held sometime in the future.

ESDC also provided a plan to save Tweeter Etc., a small electronics store, that would have moved the building a few yards up Mt. Auburn Street toward JFK Street.

But the commission decided not to push for full landmark status for Grendel's and Tweeter Etc. Instead, it agreed to have certain "preservation restrictions" placed on the property. These restrictions give the city about the same level of control over changes to the exterior of the building, and give the developer special tax breaks as an incentive for agreeing to the restrictions.

This method is not uncommon for ensuring preservation of historically significant buildings, according to Sullivan, who estimates that the commission holds about 30 such restriction agreements on various properties around the city.

The developers appear satisfied with the agreement. Still, Daniel Crane '72, attorney for Intercontinental Construction, the company in charge of replacing the buildings, emphasizes the cost of meeting the commission's demands.

"My client has taken a hit, an economic hit, in coming forward with this proposal," Crane says, but nevertheless "he has decided it's worth it."

Eliot Square Development Corporation and Intercontinental Construction are both owned by the Palandjian family.

Tweeter: Movin' On Up

Carol S. Chiles, who is with the architectural firm in charge of design, Tsoi-Kobus and Associates, presented detailed drawings and models showing the new arrangement of Grendel's and Tweeter Etc. at the meeting, which lasted more than five hours.

If the plan is approved by the City Planning Board, Tweeter Etc. will be rotated 180 degrees and moved up Mt. Auburn St. by a "house-moving specialist" to its new home facing Winthrop Park and JFK St., Chiles says.

This would create a small court-yard between Grendel's and Tweeter Etc. which will form the entrance to the new building behind the two existing properties.

Tweeter Etc. will also be given a slight architectural facelift by restoring the original wood siding and dropping the first floor by about three feet in order to better link it to the new building behind.

"The Tweeter building looks happier than it has in a long time," Jo Solet, a member of the Commission, told the developers.

But the plans to save the Tweeter Etc. building were greeted with skepticism by the employees who work there.

"If any of the members of the Historical Commission had to work in this building, they wouldn't want to save it," says Jeff Chasin, a salesperson at Tweeter Etc. for the past three years. "We don't think the building is worth saving, much less moving and saving."

"If we still get stuck in the same building, what's that going to do?" asks Sheldon Cooperman, the assistant manager.

An Arduous Process

For months, Eliot Sq. Development Corp. has been pushing the commission for permission to demolish several structures in the block bounded by JFK, Mt. Auburn and Winthop Streets, but has had to meet Cambridge's strict guidelines on alterations to buildings more than 50 years old, which in this case apply to both Grendel's and Tweeter Etc.

A moratorium of one year is automatically placed on demolition of such a building until approved by the commission, but the commission may instead choose to place the buildings under "historically significant" status, declaring the buildings to be landmarks and thus preventing the property owners from making any changes to the architecture.

At last month's meeting, the commission decided to recommend landmark status for Tweeter Etc. and was expected to do so for Grendel's, but agreed to withhold official communication of this decision to the City Council for final action until after the developers had one more chance to present a plan.

Status as a city landmark can present an obstacle to developers trying to improve the profitability of tenants like Tweeter Etc. which occupy older buildings that may not have been designed for modern retailers.

"There is always the ongoing difficulty of parking," explains Cooperman, pointing out that the cramped location of his business on the corner of Mt. Auburn and Brattle leaves no room for customers to pick up their purchases in their cars. "We've even had our stock truck ticketed."