Square Vacancies Remain

For more than a year, three highly visible Harvard Square locations have remained vacant—the result, owners say, of a series of unfortunate coincidences and an attempt to keep national chains out of the Square.

Landlords of the Mount Auburn Street spot that used to house Ma Soba, the former home of Express on Brattle Square and Adidas’ former Mass. Ave. location say the search for new tenants has proven surprisingly difficult.

“We could have sold it 100 times over by now,” says Edward B. Reiss, a spokesperson for Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE), which owns the former Ma Soba space on Mount Auburn Street. “But it has taken us a while to get it right.”

HPRE, which owns the expansive empty Mount Auburn spot, has had the luxury of waiting to find the most attractive tenant. Although Ma Soba moved out this summer, renovations are just now underway for a restaurant that is slated to open in a few months.

Reiss says disclosing the name of the restaurant would violate his contract, but says it “is not going to be a run-of-the-mill restaurant.”

“Harvard can afford to wait for the right concept, rather than take the first who can pay the rent,” says Shannah Hall, a local real estate agent. “They want things that are going to last.”

A number of fast food chains tried to get the space, Reiss says, but HRPE has a policy against selling to chains.

The one exception, Reiss says, came when HPRE sold a Mass. Ave. space to Au Bon Pain—which was the future chain’s first location.

HPRE also had a deal with a potential tenant that fell through about six months ago. According to Reiss, the tenant did not tell HPRE of plans to build a glass addition that would protrude into Mount Auburn Street public space until late in the negotiations.

Reiss says this addition would likely not have been approved by the city.

Financial Difficulties

The One Brattle Square space has had problems of its own. The sheer size of the space makes it unaffordable for most tenants, says Lynn Brainer of Fandell realtors, the firm representing the location.

The former tenants—the Express women’s shop and Structure men’s shop—moved out in the summer of 2000.

Although the space has remained empty since then, Anthony Hebron, spokesperson for Limited, Inc., which owns Express and Structure, says Limited, Inc. has continued paying rent although they chose to leave the space.

A new tenant was close to moving in six months ago but backed out at the last minute, Hebron says.

Hall estimates the rent at an “extraordinary” $100 per square foot.

Despite the high price, Brainer says several corporations are currently interested, but they have yet to conclude any deals.

She suggests that they could choose to break the space into separate pieces to make rent more manageable.

Brainer says she also faults the economic slowdown for some of the delay in selling the One Brattle Square property.

“There’s been a large adjustment in the economy, and those kinds of uncertainties ripple through,” she says. “But now it’s kicking up again.”

Others in the business agree, although they say the Square was not hard-hit by recent economic troubles.

“There’s a perceived downturn, but I don’t know that there’s actually a decrease in the volume of sales in the Square,” says Roy Roberts of Milestone Associates, which represents the currently empty Mass. Ave. space.

He says the length of time it has taken to sell the space is a natural aspect of the business cycle.

“There is a natural rate of turnover,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any greater turnover now than at any other time.”

While they search for a tenant, the neighboring Harvard Book Store, which initially considered renting the space, has found a way to use the empty storefront.

“We had looked into renting the space for ourselves, but we couldn’t figure out how to divide our merchandise,” says Frank Kramer, the bookstore’s owner.

When the property still didn’t sell, Kramer says he thought of a way to put it to use—for free.

“After [Roberts] was having so much difficulty selling the space, I asked if we could display our books there. That way the neighborhood won’t look so stark and empty,” he says.

The benefits have been substantial, he says.

“It’s like having more bookshelves out in the street,” Kramer says. “People come in and ask for those specific books they’ve seen.”

—Staff writer Eugenia B. Schraa can be reached at schraa@fas.harvard.edu.