"Harvard Avenue is the heart of the neighborhood, exactly where we want to be."
— Eric Papachristos, as quoted by WhatNow
He was talking about why Saloniki Greek opened its newest location at 180 Brighton Avenue on July 8. He's not wrong about the address. Harvard Avenue and the stretch of Brighton Avenue that feeds into it have absorbed more new restaurant openings this year than at almost any point in recent memory. But walk two blocks in either direction and you'll pass storefronts that tell a different story: taped-over windows, a shuttered tattoo shop, a pet store quietly selling off its stock before it closes for good.
Both things are true on the same block, often within sight of each other. If you live in Allston or Brighton and have noticed the strip changing all at once this summer, here's a closer look at the changes on the strip.
What opened this year
Three things landed on Brighton Avenue in quick succession, and each is worth knowing about on its own terms.
- Novo Marketplace, a 20,000-square-foot Asian-focused food hall at 122 Brighton Avenue, opened in May with more than a dozen vendors under one roof, from Chinese fried chicken to Hong Kong-style rice plates to souffle pancakes. It sits less than half a mile from Allston's older Asian food court, 88 Food Connection, giving the neighborhood two now instead of one.
- Saloniki Greek took over a former Amelia's Taqueria space at 180 Brighton Avenue. It's a small footprint, about 1,500 square feet with seating for 12, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and it joins Saloniki locations already scattered across Back Bay, Downtown Crossing, Harvard Square, and Kendall Square.
- Sanbada and Jinjee, two Korean restaurants from the group behind Cafe Weekend on Harvard Avenue, opened inside the former Tavern in the Square space at 161 Brighton Avenue. Sanbada serves seafood by day and turns into the lounge-style Bombbada by night. Jinjee is tabletop Korean barbecue, servers grilling at the table, dinners running $45 to $90 a person.
That's a genuine concentration of new dining options within a few blocks of each other, and if you're deciding where to eat this month, all three are worth trying. The openings are one part of a broader set of changes on the strip.
Recent changes on the strip
The Boston Globe reported that Alpha Management Corp bought the Gordon building at 149-175 Harvard Avenue in June. The building has long been a hub for small independent businesses on the strip. That purchase added roughly two dozen more storefronts to the nearly 20 Alpha already controlled on the street, putting more than 40 addresses along Harvard and Brighton avenues under a single landlord. Soon after, Alpha started raising rents. Some tripled.
Other storefront changes are also underway. The Pet Shop, a long-tenured tenant, has been selling off stock and preparing to move out. Regeneration Tattoo has already closed. A decades-old shop at the corner of Harvard and Brighton is still operating as of this writing. Ben Franco, president of the Allston/Brighton Chamber of Commerce, has said Alpha's communication with neighborhood business groups has been minimal.
Those changes are part of a wider reshaping of the commercial district.
Other changes on the strip
The rent story isn't the only pressure on the strip, and it helps to see the fuller picture before drawing conclusions.
The building that once housed Allston's Great Scott, the music venue that helped define the neighborhood's independent scene for years, is now a Taco Bell. A separate plan to bring Great Scott back inside a new nine-story building at Harvard Avenue and Cambridge Street, alongside a revamped O'Brien's Pub, won zoning approval, but that revival has stalled as construction costs have climbed. The former Twin Donuts space is becoming a Blank Street Coffee. The Draft Bar & Grille sits empty after its liquor license was revoked in January over underage drinking, one of several bars along the strip, including Tavern and White Horse Tavern, that have closed since the pandemic and been carved up into smaller restaurant spaces. The Globe describes this as more business closings than the district has seen in a single year since the COVID shutdown, most of them small and independently owned, with little indication yet of what fills the gaps.
There's a second thread running alongside the rent story, too. The stretch of Harvard Avenue between Commonwealth Avenue and Cambridge Street, sometimes called Allston Village, has long held a concentration of Korean American businesses. Mike Lee, president of Boston's OKTA Korean Business Association, said interest in Korean food and culture still helps a business like his own restaurant at Novo Marketplace, but his business partner, Sungjong Park, has acknowledged it's harder to compete with new entrants. Real estate broker Koko Kwan, who works with several incoming tenants, put it plainly: it used to be more of a Koreatown, and now more of her clients are Chinese-owned brands looking to expand into Boston, including chains like Molly Tea and Heytea. Kwan is currently working to place a Chinese boba chain into the storefront at 130 Brighton Avenue that once belonged to Shibuyala, a California-based Asian lifestyle retailer. Fewer young adults are drinking and going out, even in a strip whose commercial life has long leaned on an 18-to-30 population. Those prospective tenants are part of the changing business mix on the strip.
A changing business mix
The restaurant openings and storefront departures are occurring in the same district. Alpha Management Corp controls more than 40 storefronts on Harvard and Brighton avenues, and rents have risen at some properties. The new arrivals include a Greek fast-casual chain with other Boston locations, a food hall with room for a dozen vendors and a restaurant group opening two spots at once. Local Korean American business operators have described competition from new entrants.
None of this means the new spots aren't good, or that the neighborhood is worse off having them. Novo Marketplace gives Allston a second serious food hall. Saloniki brings a menu that's proven itself in four other Boston neighborhoods. Sanbada and Jinjee add tabletop Korean barbecue and a lounge the strip didn't have in June. The openings and departures described here are part of a changing business mix on Harvard Avenue.
If you're the kind of resident who tracks the strip block by block, the openings, closures and rent changes offer a view of how the street is evolving. The mix of businesses shapes the character of the street, as well as its restaurant count.
Urban Circle Realty keeps close watch on how Allston and Brighton change, block by block and lease by lease, because that texture shapes what it's actually like to live here day to day. If you want to talk through what's happening in this neighborhood or any other corner of Greater Boston, connect with Sherean and the Urban Circle Realty team.
