BOSTON-Lawyers for the Boston Redevelopment Authority will review a 99-year land agreement with the operators of Faneuil Hall after the marketplace's management firm asked a local merchant to vacate space to make room for a national chain. The review comes just weeks after Mayor Thomas Menino expressed concern that local businesses were being replaced by larger chain stores at the Downtown Boston marketplace.
The city has formed a watchdog group to attract more local merchants to the tourist shopping destination. In a letter to General Growth Properties Inc., Menino says the city will begin reviewing its agreements with the mall developer and demanded the firm offer the store, Boston's Flop Shop, an opportunity to stay in a storefront location that it moved into just two months ago. Flop Shop owner Patricia Richardson, who operated a pushcart at Fanueil Hall for 16 years before signing a six month lease on the storefront, was notified last week that General Growth plans to lease the store to Teavana, an Atlanta-based retailer of teas and tea-related products.
Michael Kelleher, who manages Faneuil Hall Marketplace for General Growth, could not be reached for comment in time for GlobeSt.com's deadline.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.