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Twin Donuts building to get renovations, to become even 50s-ier

The Boston Business Journal reports.

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After the renovation, they'll double the lease cost and price the current store owner out. The building will sit vacant for 2 years while nobody in their right mind will want to pay the exorbitant costs. Finally, the Tedeschi's next door will move in bringing its Dunkin Donuts stand with it and "donuts" will be sold again.

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Allowing for the possibility that it might turn into a CVS instead, that sounds about right.

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comment I'll read today.

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“Twin Donuts is very dear to Harold,” said Carl Valeri, Hamilton’s president. “He loves the location, the concept and the service it provides.”

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or decency stand in the way of making a buck.

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As dear as Marty's? Marty and Harold were business partners until 1994 when they split and Marty took the Newton location on Washington St and Harold took the Comm Ave location. Harold kept renting to Marty at Comm Ave and Harvard until 2009 when during the lease renewal he added another 50% on top of the current rent and drove Marty out.

If you think I'm stretching...here's what the Globe had to say about Marty's in 1989: "Marty's Liquors . . . is for Allston-Brighton's busy Commonwealth Avenue and Harvard Avenue intersection what the Citgo sign is for Kenmore Square". Sound familiar?

“The property is a gateway to Union Square and it’s the first thing people see when they come to Allston,” said Brown, Hamilton’s chairman and CEO. “The Twin Donuts sign has become an icon in the neighborhood, like the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square, and we think it's time for some improvements."

With the recent article in the Globe/BDC about Twin Donuts, I'm betting this "revamp" is a continuation of a publicity push for the location in order to get someone bigger/better than a ma&pa greasy spoon owner to take over the rent and pay a higher market value for the space. It's not a coincidence that this is also coming on the heels of a bunch of redevelopment across the street bringing new and better options to the other corner and nearby Cambridge St storefronts (Root, Lone Star, Lulu's Allston...).

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Isn't the Twin Donuts sign the *last* thing people see when they *leave* Allston?

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If you drive north on Cambridge St from Brighton and look in your driver's side rear view mirror, it's the first thing. :)

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Good old "niwT stunoD". Warms the cockles of me heart, it does.

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is this what you mean? Havent been there in a while? The Model still there?

Developer proposes replacing DoReMi karaoke in Allston with 40 apartments, commercial space

A developer is proposing to raze the longstanding DoReMi Karaoke studio in Allston to build a $7-million, four-story mixed-use building with 40 apartments, ground-floor commercial space and underground parking, according to plans filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The plans filed by Arcand Family/Allston, LLC also call for a fitness center, roof decks and a management office inside the proposed 49,810 square-foot building at 446-450 Cambridge St.

Five of the apartments would be designated as affordable housing. The proposed commercial space would measure 1,631 square feet. There would be a total of 40 vehicle garage parking spaces along with space for 40 bicycles.

The plan calls for demolishing DoReMi, which opened in 1997 at 442 Cambridge St., and a small house behind it that is currently used as an office.

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/03/24/developer-proposes-replac...

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I was just coming back to edit my post to include that link as well. Thanks!

Also, yes, the Model is still there. I think it got a bit of a facelift recently (ok, maybe a year or so ago...new blue awnings and matching paint below the windows...same ol' neon shingle sign). Or maybe it's just that they cleaned the storefront recently. Or maybe it's just that it was the first time I've seen it in the daylight in a while.

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It's not a coincidence that this is also coming on the heels of a bunch of redevelopment across the street bringing new and better options to the other corner and nearby Cambridge St storefronts (Root, Lone Star, Lulu's Allston...).

I should note that Romanos 1 Salon on that strip just closed, presumably due to rent? (Although Peace O' Pie left for seemingly other reasons)

http://www.romanos1salon.com/

Will be interesting to see what goes in.

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"Harold Brown plans $200k upgrade to Twin Donuts in Brighton....Twin Donuts, a 1950s-era landmark and long-serving restaurant in Allston’s Union Square"

SO WHICH IS IT BBJ?

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The distinction is artificial, but if you absolutely had to place a border, not that you need to, it would be in Union Square.

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You know in the old days landlords used to start renovations with matches. This gentrification thing seems to be an improvement from that.

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Who's the "secret"?... behind an unofficial website
http://www.mydemoulas.net/

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I don't know what made you ask (do we ever?), but this isn't related to the topic at hand.

On the other hand, let me teach you how to look these things up in the future so you don't have to ask:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/ will show you who is registered as the owner of a domain/website. The one you asked about is listed here:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=mydemoulas.net

As you can see, the owner is Michael Devaney of NH. Of course, you didn't have to look at the WHOIS registry for this info, since it was profiled by the Nashua Telegraph: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/905847-196/man-creates-own-market-ba...

And he brags about it on his own personal site: http://mdevaney.com/

So, not exactly a secret who runs the domain.

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Former Market Basket staff?... Or vendor?... what's the story behind the story?... it's an extensive website, a lot of work done on it !

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Who gives a flying fuck? Could you post this some place where people might care?

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Fanshoppers and employees.

No mystery.

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I almost missed this one. and my apologies to Adam for posting this, but I did promise Zak that I would do this the next time he gives a non-sequitor.

So, I was curious about the old proceedings of the Boston City Council, and since they are online, I grabbed one from the 1970s to see how full they were. At the end of one meeting, there was some resolution about the death penalty or something that Langone wanted passed but DiCara objected to. After then, the proceedings ended. At the end, it noted-

All debate of City Council eliminated from proceedings in accordance with Chapter 447, Acts of 1947.

Therefore, no, the city will not publish the stenographic proceedings of the Boston City Council. Sorry.

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What's the history of this legislation?

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Does anybody else shudder to think of what the "new 1950s-period facade" will consist of? I'm thinking lots of checkboard, brushed aluminum and clip art of girls in poodle skirts.

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Will look like Johnny Rockets exploded inside.

Or a "Fabulous 50s" McDonald's interior.

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Isn't the facade already from the 1950s? Besides, what I took away from the Boston.com piece was that the kitchen is too small to both make fresh donuts all day and serve diner food at the same time. I'd be more happy if they gutted the inside, reduced the seating to expand the kitchen, put in some brand new donut-making fryers, and made it possible to serve donuts after 5 AM every day.

Sure, repaint the outside and replace the neon with LED technology (ala the CITGO & Shell signs) too.

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And then segued to fried chicken...hmmm.

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The proposed facade enhancements are shown in the article, just click on the image and then you'll see an arrow to click to the second image in the story. I cant link to it otherwise I would post it.

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Thanks.

LOL@Photoshop.

Also, Dear God, kill me now.

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A little chrome and glass brick? Remind me to shun that guy's contractor.

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IMAGE(http://media.bizj.us/view/img/2262051/0321twindonutsrendering1*600xx1430-955-77-0.jpg)

Well, at least we have determined that none of the money for renovations went to the artist. The LEAST he could have done is fixed the broken neon letter "i" in Twin.

But just some chrome and teal paint? Wow. That is REALLY going to be a slap in the face when they jack up the rent now.

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"RENOWNED Boston developer Harold Brown"? I believe when you're a known as one of the biggest slum lords in our city's history, and you do fed time for general predatory scumbaggery, the correct adjective to use is infamous.

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I believe Twin Donuts was where Harold tried bribe Brian McLaughlin back in the day so there's that. Harold and his crew have definitely got a "colorful" history and done some not so nice things to his tenants over the years. On the scale of evil landlords he's kind of in the middle, though. He's gotten caught too many times to rank up there. He's just not that effective as an evil landlord as he might have us believe.

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