A giant Christmas tree towers over the crowded streets. A star formed of lights bridges the sides of the Macy’s and Filene’s building as shoppers stroll below. Garlands and baubles hang on every storefront. A jazz singer belts lines of “Deck the Halls” as children rush by, holding on to their parents and asking where Santa is.
One would expect no less from the Macy’s in New York City’s Herald Square or from the opening credits of this season’s Christmas movies. But this parade of wide-eyed youngsters and Christmas cheer wasn’t in the Big Apple’s famed holiday Mecca or on a movie screen, but in Boston’s own Downtown Crossing district.
In this historic district, defined in the past by a Filene’s facade and scattered street vendors, several city organizations are handing out holiday cheer left and right in hopes of making the district — which fills in the gap between Government Center, the Financial District, Downtown and Chinatown — a sought-after destination this season.
On Sat. Dec 1, carolers, local radio stations, Christmas tree vendors and Starbucks representatives with portable espresso machines huddled under tents on Summer Street as part of the kickoff for the holiday season in the neighborhood of 2,500.
City agencies, the Downtown Crossing neighborhood association and the Boston Redevelopment Authority are using coupon offers, grant programs and a wealth of daily and weekend programming to keep shopper traffic steady in the area, though it’s lacking one of its major retail staples of old this season because Filene’s moved out in August.
“We’re working to bring activity and vitality to Downtown Crossing,” said Downtown Crossing Association president Rosemarie Sansone. “I think it’s going to be a very festive season.”
STILL A PLACE TO SPEND
The city hasn’t limited its Downtown Crossing holiday bazaar to a one-time event, though, and officials hope to show the public that Downtown Crossing isn’t solely defined by its retail giants.
The city is sponsoring a coupon program for the neighborhood, which is advertised in all the city and neighborhood newspapers, said BRA deputy director of community planning Randi Lathrop. The programs have been advertised in over 100,00 radio ads, she said.
“Although [Filene’s] has closed down, there’s still a lot of shopping to be done,” Lathrop said.
Despite perceptions that the move would damage commerce in the area, Lathrop said Downtown Crossing is still heavily traversed. About 240,000 people go to the neighborhood a day, 130,000 of whom are office workers, Lathrop said.
“We wanted to make sure we were marketing the area as a shopping destination,” Sansone said. “[There are] lots of stores we want to make sure people recognized.”
On weekends, they’re hosting Santa visits and petting zoos for families, as well as jugglers and artists on Fridays. For the heavy population of workers in the area, they’re hosting daily live music.
Sansone noted the neighborhood has enough stores to cover all holiday shopping needs from more luxurious gifts to wrapping paper and stocking stuffers. “It has one of the most significant selections of jewelry and shoes in the city,” she said. “There isn’t anything you could possibly want that the Downtown Crossing area doesn’t have.”
AN OLD FAVORITE
While The Freedom Trail is a tourist staple year round, it’s also working to boost its holiday appeal. The Freedom Trail Foundation, the nonprofit agency that runs the tours, sits on the edge of Downtown Crossing and is one of the neighborhood businesses working in partnership with the city’s holiday incentives.
Led by a 19th century-dressed docent, the Holiday Stroll starts at Faneuil Hall and leads viewers down the Freedom Trail, with a special emphasis on the history of Christmas in Boston. The tour guides revisit the time when it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Boston under Puritan law. The Holiday Stroll also focuses heavily on Charles Dickens, whose “A Christmas Carol” had its American premiere in Boston, according to the Freedom Trail Foundation website.
“I think it’s a pretty imaginative initiative,” said Freedom Trail Foundation president Mimi LaCamera. “There’s a lot of construction [in Downtown Crossing]. The neighborhood needed some extra juice to add to the holiday experience.”
The foundation is holding a second annual Holiday Stroll from late November to January. The foundation is raising its own money for marketing and preservation, but the city is working in partnership to help promote the Foundation in the season. Some of the Freedom Trail museum stores are also participating in the city’s coupon program.
“We had to do it from an 1850’s perspective, Dickens’ time,” LaCamera said. “He spent a lot of time in Boston.”
The Holiday Stroll numbers are up from last year’s, she said.
“I think the overall marketing campaign is very effective in enticing people to Downtown Crossing,” LaCamera said.
BLOCK PARTY
In addition to its discounts and weekend programming, the city of Boston and the BRA have allotted grant funds for businesses who want to independently plan holiday attractions for customers.
“It came out of brainstorming what we could to do assist with spurring economic activity,” said Kristen Keefe, BRA manager of retail development. “We thought that people come for events and we wanted to help businesses think creatively about getting people to Downtown Crossing.”
The city set aside $20,000 to fund matching grants for holiday events for businesses in the district, she said. The stores must match the grant amount in the money they spend on events, which must come at no cost to customers. The maximum individual grant is $2,000. This is the first year of the grant program and the city has already committed half of the grant funds, Keefe said.
“We feel very strongly that it’s money well spent,” Keefe said.
Businesses on Bromfield Street in Downtown Crossing will use their grant funds to host a block party on Dec. 18, Keefe said. They’re extending their business hours and offering raffles, prizes and giveaways.
The grant program has given the smallest of businesses a chance to flourish. Cheng ‘ Tsui, a wholesaler of Asian books, movies and games, will host an open house for its customers on the ground floor of its shop on West Street on Dec. 14. The business normally occupies the second floor of the building and has typically had a lower profile.
“I think [the event] is fantastic because that’s a lesser known business,” Keefe said. “It’s a great way to bring a different customer to Downtown Crossing.”
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
Pleased with the outcome of the holiday bonanza so far, the Downtown Crossing Association hopes to up the festivity of its neighborhood year-round.
“We’re going to have programming and significant activity for every week of the 52 weeks a year,” Sansone said.
The group also hopes to create similar festivities for other holidays such as Easter and Patriot’s Day.
“Look forward to a new and different face [on] the Downtown Crossing neighborhood,” Sansone said.
The plans for revitalization and recreation fall in line with the city’s broader, long-term vision for the neighborhood. In November 2004, Mayor Menino announced a city-sponsored initiative to revamp and reevaluate the identity of Downtown Crossing. Since then, Boston has brought in urban planners from five cities to plan the identity and branding strategy for retail, urban streetscapes and residential building, said Lathrop.
The city has committed $500, 000 to the Downtown Crossing revitalization effort, according to a press release. Reconstruction of the Filene’s building is a major component of the revitalization. The building would be transformed to include office, retail, residential and hotel space. The Filene’s business is set to return to the building in 18 months, Lathrop said.
The city also hopes to expand the residential population of the neighborhood to 10,000 over the next several years.
“There’s a lot of enthusiastic anticipation about the transformation that’s taking place,” Sansone said. “We’re expecting a real infusion of residents that will be here every day.”
The most recent installment of the residential population will be a Suffolk University dormitory, opening in January in the reconstructed 10 West Street building. The dorm will house between 250 and 300 students, Sansone said. Suffolk also plans to renovate the Modern Theatre as a dormitory.
“Additional students mean additional spending power,” Keefe said. She also said the added student residents will bring a more constant presence to the neighborhood in the evenings, allowing for greater success of restaurants and nighttime venues.
Initially, residents of Millennium Place, a condominium a block away from 10 West Street, opposed the student dormitory. According to a July 3 Boston Globe article, Milleunium Place ended its opposition on the condition that the university would put no more student dormitories in the neighborhood, with the exception of the Modern Theatre renovations.
Suffolk will also donate $20, 000 a year to the Downtown Crossing Association’s program to enhance neighborhood cleanliness, will provide additional street lighting and security and will provide community meeting space on the first floor of the building, according to a BRA press release.
The 10 West Street building will have retail space on the first floor, another condition of Millennium Place’s agreement, according to the Globe article. Already a caf’eacute; plans to occupy one of the spots and the other spots are being marketed to restaurants, Keefe said.
“We’ve worked very closely with Suffolk to make sure that the grounds were retail and not just student-centric.”