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Company that runs Faneuil Hall Marketplace to store and stall owners: Bitch, better have my money

Update: Company changes mind - after call from the mayor.

Adrian Walker at the Globe reports that Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., the New York company that manages the city-owned Faneuil Hall Marketplace, has told the little people who rent its stores and stalls that it sure is a shame about Covid-19 emptying the whole place, but you still need to pay your full rent, and here are a couple links to info about SBA loans.

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Comments

"Bleep you, pay me."

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Ever occur to you that the Landlord CAN’T give outward concessions? The Landlord’s lenders and insurance company most likely have all kinds of restrictions that prevent lease amendments...yes even in a time like Corona Virus. Ever consider the possibility that LL takes a position so it doesn’t lose insurance coverage or default under a mortgage loan but doesn’t ever enforce it? What are the effects of taking a position but never enforcing it? Hmm no point in doing any homework before you post because gotcha headlines are so much more interesting than the truth....

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Is that a quote from "The Sopranos" or "Goodfellas"?

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Never saw "The Sopranos" so maybe they used it there too but I don't know.

The actual line is "Business is bad? Bleep you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Bleep you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Bleep you, pay me."

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Line is from the film “I’m gonna git you sucka”. A wayans brother movie

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I've known some restaurant owners who've worked with this landlord in that spot. Total shitheads who'd rather see a well regarded and popular restaurant close and loose the rent for months if not years rather than negotiate on a deal which would help both parties.

They are the classic example of an owner which can't see beyond 29 days into the future.

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Can the city fire the management company that runs the property the city owns?

Change the locks and tell 'em to screw.

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Hey, Mr. Mayor, I think we know where the next drive up testing location should be.

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Organize a rent strike.

It's a whole city block next to city hall. That LLC doesn't have much leverage to begin with.

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Send lawyers, guns and money!

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Hire Bostonians to run it?

Unless, of course, the answer to my question is "The New Yorkers were the highest bidder", in which case, you have your answer as to why a) the rent is too damn high and 2) the company is really leaning on them to pay.

In any case, thanks to COVID-19, we're all learning that Faneuil Hall is an overpriced experience that we can live without, and all three parties will suffer as a result.

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Can anyone shed light on the process that determined who would manage Faneuil Hall ?

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When Faneuil Hall Marketplace opened in 1976, it was operated by the Rouse Company, based in Maryland, and headed by James Rouse. (You can look up the Rouse Company and James Rouse on Wikipedia for more info.) It was a pioneering development, the first so-called "festival marketplace". Rouse put in a lot of money for the redevelopment of some pretty derelict buildings, for a concept that had never really been tried elsewhere, and in return (as I recall) Rouse got something like a 99-year lease. James Rouse died in 1996. In 2004 the Rouse Company was sold to General Growth Properties and since then there have been other acquisitions and mergers.

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It's nice that they fixed up and preserved the historic buildings. But it would be nicer if it weren't so fake. Pike Place in Seattle is a similar historic wholesale food market that kept its authenticity while also bringing in a few modern businesses in renovated spaces.

Then there's the weird suburban corporate utopia of Columbia, MD that Rouse built. They had some lofty ideals, but the end result, unsurprisingly, is sprawl more fake than a normal suburb, built around a shopping mall, all run by a corporate overlord.

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I agree. This experience is really crystalizing what is truly helpful in my day-to-day experiences and what I've easily done without and will continue to not need.

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and relevant, I vigorously discouraged visiting friends from wasting a moment's time at Fanueil Hall beyond maybe a Freedom Trail stop to look at the historic building.

It has always struck me as an enormous wasted opportunity to do something other than a suburban mall knock-off full of chain outlets you can find in hundreds of places around the country. It's not as stupid a tourist attraction as Plymouth Rock, but it's close.

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aren't (or weren't) most of the stalls in the central building local businesses?

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Yes, most of the food stalls are still local businesses, except for that New York-based bakery that's just inside the west door. But of the 25 or so stalls, there are maybe a dozen individual owners, with some people owning 3 or 4 stalls.

The original concept for the retail shops in the North and South Market buildings was that they would also be locally owned, but over time more and more chains have moved in.

Faneuil Hall itself -- the red brick building closest to Congress St. -- is still owned and managed by the city, which chooses which businesses they lease to. And Marketplace Center, at the east end (with Crocs and Ann Taylor Loft) is owned by a separate company.

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He probably made more from Trump's tax cuts than he stands to lose from a couple months' missing rent from Faneuil Hall vendors.

He can suck up a few small losses, I'd think. Or be made to.

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What a shonda!

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You're confused. It was her husband Curt Schilling who was involved in scummy public-private partnerships.

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People keep complaining about awful landlords but they have bills too. They are renting the whole complex from the city. Why not ask the city to not take payments for the months impacted? Why should the landlord take the hit?

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the company with a $12 billion global property portfolio and CEO/majority owner who lives on 5th Ave. and hired Drake for his kid's bat mitzfah can probably afford to take more of a short-term hit than the guys slinging Mac and Cheese or Abbey Road-inspired Boston sports tees.

It's not even like they're asking for straight up rent forgiveness. They're asking for a temporary pause now, and to then make it up down the line. This literally works out better for everyone involved.

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Clean the entire place out and start over. It's a tacky embarrassment to the people of Boston. The city owns the place, do they? Why are they whoring it out to this scumbag?

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We keep it open because tourists love it.

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Maybe those landlords should get a few part time jobs and stop being parasites.

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Kushner, 45, and friends don't look as evil as they did on the real estate side.

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What's with the gendered slur?

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She wrote a song on the theme ...

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Of the night and who will be my lover?

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