Rockport Shoes is Moving to West NewtoN!
Theodore M. Hess Mahan
Dear West Newton Peeps:
As you may already have heard, Rockport Shoes will be moving its headquarters into the space currently occupied by Continuum, which is moving to Boston next year. For the last several months, Rockport has been negotiating a buyout of Continuum's lease of office space at 1220 Washington Street (behind Dunkin Donuts). Rockport Shoes will be redesigning both the interior and exterior space before moving in sometime next year. The Mayor, the aldermen from Ward 3, the planning department and the economic development director were all very much involved in bringing Rockport Shoes to West Newton, and we are all very excited to welcome them to our neighborhood. There was fierce competition between Newton and Boston Properties, which is building the Clark's HQ in Waltham, and I am very grateful to the Mayor and my other colleagues in government for mounting a successful campaign to bring Rockport Shoes to West Newton. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2015/12/four-months-after-acquisition-rockport-moves.html
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Four months after acquisition, Rockport Group leaves Canton for Newton - Boston Business Journal
Adidas Group sold Massachusetts footwear maker Rockport in August to a partnership of New Balance Holding Inc. and Boston-based Berkshire Partners LLC for a reported $280 million.
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I also wanted to let you that I have been working with various West Newton businesses, the economic planning director and the planning department on developing a map of West Newton Square showing the locations of restaurants, cafes, the cinema and shops, as well as public parking (metered and free) in the square. Afkham Salie at L'Aroma had approached me about putting together a map that would help his customers find places to park in the area which he could post in his window and on the cafe's website and distribute to customers and other businesses in the area so that their employees could take advantage of all the great amenities West Newton Square has to offer. Afkham tells me that he has talked to other West Newton business owners who are all very excited about it.
As I am sure you have noticed, West Newton has suffered a real parking crunch of late, since St. Bernard-Corpus Christi closed its parking lot to commuters, and the police department converted 4-5 spaces to 15 minute parking in front of the Police Department
Annex for people who are paying their traffic tickets in person or purchasing a parking permit. The Traffic Council will be taking up the 15 minute parking restriction in front of the Annex sometime in the new year, so I will let you know so you can weigh
in on that issue. A number of business owners in West Newton have expressed their concern that their customers do not have parking nearby, which is a particular hardship at this time of year when many retail businesses are counting on increased shopping to
make ends meet. That was, in part, the impetus for the development of a map showing where parking is available. West Newton Square may also benefit from the ongoing transportation study which will help the city develop policies for managing traffic and parking
issues in the villages.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
"Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant." --Louis D. Brandeis