The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Wellesley Business Buzz: What’s up at ex-Bertucci’s space; CouCou closing Wellesley shop;

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Here’s a round-up of the latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

What’s up at ex-Bertucci’s space

Don’t get too excited yet about the activity swirling around the ex-Bertucci’s space at Playhouse Square next to White’s Bakery.

Contractor Haynes Group is busy doing some preliminary work inside to prep the space for a future tenant, but there is nobody in line to snap up the space yet. I spoke with a Haynes Group representative who said the company has been hired to take the interior to a certain point. From there, a tenant will be sought. Once a tenant is found, Haynes hopes to be the company to take the project to completion.

Bertuccis
Haynes Group has begun work inside the old Bertucci’s space for a tenant to be determined (The Painting Place is already in business around the corner). Photo credit: Lara Smith

 

CouCou closing in Wellesley

CouCou, the stylish kids’ clothing & more store that opened on the Belclare retail strip last summer, has announced it will close its Wellesley shop and concentrate on its Boston and online businesses.

The Belclare strip, which just a few months ago was nearly fully occupied for the first time, has suddenly become a partial ghost town. The two businesses to the west of CouCou, Legit and La Mia Moda, have also shut down their Wellesley shops.

CouCou Wellesley
CouCou closing in Wellesley, staying open in Boston and online

CouCou will look to go out with a bang, putting its offerings on sale between now and its Aug. 31 closing. Owner Astrid Motsenigos says, “We are looking at hosting a holiday pop up in Wellesley from November to December to come serve our customers there again.  Potentially in an empty space or at one of the existing women’s boutiques we have great relationships with.”

Meanwhile, Barber Walter’s, Agnes Vision and other businesses remain on the Belclare strip, but the property manager could now use another influx.

Got other Wellesley business tips on openings, closings or whatever, feel free to email us here: [email protected]

You can also email us if you’re interested in sponsoring our weekly Wellesley Business Buzz roundup.

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Wellesley bulldog a sucker for pacifiers, and it made the poor pup sick

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Associated Press reports that a Wellesley bulldog named Mortimer got sick from what turned out to be swallowing too many pacifiers belonging to kids in the house.

According to the article, the Angell Animal Medical Center discovered 19 pacifiers in the 3-year-old dog’s stomach, after his family brought him in when he stopped eating. Fortunately, surgery wasn’t required and Mortimer has recovered.

MORE: Top Wellesley dog names and breeds for 2019

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The hardest working butterflies in Wellesley

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This spring the Wellesley Historical Society‘s Denton butterfly collection made its way to all 7 elementary schools’ third-grade classes. The rotating set of 24 butterflies are part of a collaboration with the schools, now in its fourth year, to conclude a unit focused on the defense strategies of the butterflies. The students previously raised painted ladies and released them.  The traveling exhibit gives students an up-close look at the Denton butterflies, most of which are in their patented glass cases and were collected back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Prior to the elementary school visits, the Cub Scouts visited the Historical Society’s Dadmun-McNamara House and had a preview of the collection, which includes between 2-3,000 butterflies (plus other insects) from across the globe.
In addition to the student immersion in butterflies, adults had an opportunity to see the collection at the Wellesley Council on Aging. Spearheaded by Society archivist and collections manager Taylor Kalloch, the butterflies on June 4 were the center of the first of what will be a series of “show-and-tell” presentations.
wellesley butterflies
Wellesley 3rd graders and budding lepidopterologists
Kids and adults asked a lot of the same questions, including: “Why did the collectors need to kill the butterflies?” The answer: Among other things, studying insects from around the world decades ago wasn’t as simple as jetting off to another country and snapping high quality digital photographs.
If you are interested in supporting the collection through Society membership or scheduling an appointment to view the butterflies or other items, please contact Amanda Fisher at [email protected]wellesleyhistoricalsociety.org or 781-235-6690.
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Wellesley Square redevelopment plan raises parking, traffic concerns

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Representatives from Trinity Financial Group visited the Wellesley Community Center on Tuesday night to present their ideas for developing the Tailby and Railroad Avenue parking lots in Wellesley Square. A standing-room-only crowd of over 130 residents and stakeholders put Trinity on the hot seat about issues such as traffic, parking, and affordable housing. Project manager Dan Drazen led the group through a slide show and later took questions from the audience.

At the Wellesley Community Center, a crowd of about 130 attended a meeting about the potential redevelopment of the Tailby and Railroad parking lots in Wellesley Square.

Back in November 2018, the Wellesley Board of Selectmen voted to enter into negotiations with Trinity for ground leases of the  lots, which could wind up the sites of 90 units of housing — half of them luxury condos, and half of them mixed-income rental spaces that would fulfill Massachusetts Subsidized Housing Inventory requirements. In addition Trinity says the project will add 450 parking spaces, a theater and gallery space, and new ADA accessible commuter rail platforms and elevators up to street level. Trinity estimates that all this will give Wellesley an estimated $1 million annually in new property tax revenue.

Trinity was selected from a group of six companies that answered the town’s Request for Proposals (RFP), which invited “…proposals from qualified developers to enter into one or more long-term leases to develop the Town of Wellesley Tailby (103 Linden Street) and Railroad (7 Grove Street) Commuter Parking Lots for parking and affordable and market rate housing that will be owned and operated by the selected developer(s).”

The  selection of Trinity does not mean that the development will definitely take place. The town is still in investigative mode in talks about the project. Still, the town didn’t send out an RFP just as an invitation to tea, and Trinity has been encouraged enough to produce renderings of the project and site plans. Drazen said those plans will be up on a new website shortly.

The engaged crowd was most interested in letting the company know that community outreach and creative vision were all very well and good, but traffic and parking concerns would have to be addressed. Things got a little heated at times, but angry flashes were directed mostly from residents to residents. “Speak up!” shouted impatient people to someone unfamiliar with how the microphone worked.

In general, however, residents were there to become educated on what might turn into the most major change in Wellesley Square in decades — and make sure that the changes don’t become a major headache.

According to the town, now that Trinity has heard from the community, the group will meet with the Board of Selectmen “later in the summer, likely either July 30th or August 13th.”

Trinity, which says it’s been on a “listening tour”, has asked for continued community engagement. The company plans on holding another community meeting in September or October.

You can contact Trinity reps by emailing [email protected] or calling 617-720-8400.

MORE:

Wellesley issues Request for Proposals for Tailby and Railroad parking lots

Wellesley picks finalist for possible development of Tailby/Railroad lots

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Wellesley Board of Selectmen agrees to new Hunnewell construction; discusses name change to Select Board

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The Board of Selectmen (BOS) met on Monday, June 17 at 7pm in the Juliani Room at Town Hall to discuss and vote on the School Building Committee‘s (SBC) recommendation that the Hunnewell Elementary School project go forward as new construction, and to discuss a change of name for the BOS itself, among other issues.

BOS Chairman Jack Morgan called for the vote on the Hunnewell construction project. Vice Chair Marjorie Freiman then moved  “to affirm the vote of the SBC to recommend new construction for the Hunnewell School.”

The vote for new construction for Hunnewell passed unanimously.

The next SBC meeting will be June 25, 2019, 5:30pm, location to be determined.

MORE:

Construction update for Hunnewell School in Wellesley

What’s in a name?

Also on the agenda was an item to discuss changing the name of the Board of Selectmen (BOS)  to Select Board. The idea behind such a move is to allow the Board to go by a more inclusive term.

BOS Chair Jack Morgan said, “We’re not exactly cutting edge here. As I recall, the numbers are something like 80 towns in Massachusetts have changed the name from Board of Selectmen to Select Board.” Massachusetts has 351 municipalities in all (39 cities, 312 towns in 14 counties). Many towns are governed by a Board, but not all. Over 25% of those towns governed by a Board have in recent years moved from the name “Board of Selectmen” to “Select Board” or something similarly gender-neutral.

Throwback time

Morgan noted that the term “Board of Selectmen” hearkened back to the 17th century when to vote in a town one had to be male, possibly also a property owner, and possibly also a member of the church. “We’ve come a long way since then as a society and as a Commonwealth,” Morgan said.

During discussion, BOS members chimed in.

Lise Olney said, “I’m strongly in favor of making this change. People recognize the name Select Board as being a more inclusive term.”

Marjorie Freiman said, “It’s timely and would bring Wellesley  up with these 80 other towns. For me, it’s important to show our support to be inclusive.”

For Beth Sullivan Woods, it was not a must-do. “When I think of all the issues we have to deal with, for me it’s not up there on the high-priority list. I have trouble with the term Select Person because it sounds like One of The Chosen. I do believe we should be inclusive.”

Tom Ulfelder said that is was simply a matter of recognition and value.

There was no vote taken on the matter. That comes later.

Now that the BOS has discussed the matter in a public meeting, and it is clear that the BOS is inclined to change the name, the next step will be for Town of Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop to work with Tom Harrington of Miyares & Harrington (Wellesley’s Town Counsel) to advise the Board on the recommended pathway to make the name change.

There will be further discussion on the issue, and the pubic will be invited to comment at a meeting in the near future. Either at that meeting or at a subsequent meeting the BOS will formally vote, possibly over the summer and before Labor Day.

From there, the BOS would send the issue forward for Town Meeting action, most likely in 2020.

Don’t get whiplash watching all this unfold.

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