This Is Framingham

According to a MWDN article the Italian restaurant Papa Razzi will be taking over ye olde Bennigan’s location (thank you!)

From the article:
“Work on gutting Bennigan’s will start within the next five business days”
“The gutting is taking place because “pretty much everything in there is useless,” said Dalton (VP Back Bay Restaurant Group) ”It has a lot of age on it and it’s in poor condition. It’s better to strip everything out.” 
Amen.

I’ve been to the Papa Razzi Wellesley a few years ago and remember it being really good.  I think they’ll do very well here.  They’re going to spend $2.3 million on renovations. I’m glad someone with money is going to renovate the whole place.

I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but, once a month there is a meeting of the Framingham Downtown Renaissance committee.  I guess anyone can go since I started attending months before I became a town meeting member.  They are great meetings to go to.  Whenever I feel questionable about downtown and the fact that I live here, I feel so much better after attending these meetings.  It’s great to see there are people working on actual projects to improve downtown and plans are in the works to solve a variety of issues.  Also, it’s a great way to just know what is going on in the area.
We usually meet in the memorial building but today the Dennison Condos invited the group to meet there and give us a tour. There were the usual FDR people (although minus Rev. Bob who introduced me to these meetings) as well as realtors and Susan Brickman from the Metrowest Daily News. I thought it was funny that before the meeting started she made a point to go around with her notebook and ask every single person who they were and what their affiliation was except for me, probably because I was the youngest in the room and wearing my windbreaker and bike pants (because I had to go to work right from there) she didn’t seem to have an interest in what someone looking like I did was doing there.
The hosting realtors were a husband and wife team that were very nice and answered all my questions.  Apparently the condos will take over the building right next to them which currently houses SMOC.  Where SMOC is going I don’t know but I thought it was interesting that they’ll be out of that space in a year or so.
Here’s a little of what we saw:

 




I really wish this place the best.  It’s a crummy market right now and I know people have their problems with this place, some which I agree with, but these units look nice and it would be great for downtown if these took off.  Kudos to the people who invested the money into building these and I hope it will be a part of a downtown revitalization.

I went by the site where Hurwitz’s kosher meat market used to be. It’s been repainted and looks like something is going on so I looked up to see if any work permits have been issued.
Although it is listed as 327, (that address is a residence so it must be a typo) they must mean 326 where Hurwitz’s used to be.  There is a recent permit issued for “Retail with food service” for a business called “Hot and Sweet Continental Deli and Meat Market”.
I’m glad something that I might want to use will move in there instead of an office or something.  I’m looking forward to checking this place when it’s open.

I forget when this bridge was closed but it’s been a while, like 10 years maybe or maybe it just seems like 10 years I’m trying to think when I last drove over this bridge if it was when I was at Framingham State or after I graduated- either way it’s been a long time.

I like this bridge and that Main St. is a nice way to get from Edgell Rd. the Ski Market plaza or just to get to Rt. 9.
They are working on it now, I’m assuming they will open it up to vehicle traffic when they’re done but even if they decide not to (stranger things have happened), it is nice to just walk on the bridge and look at the Sudbury River.   Sometimes I’ll walk to Trader Joes or Whole Foods and stop at the bridge and hang out for a few minutes.  There are so many trees and birds you can forget you are a stones throw from route 9. 

This construction extends to route 9, which I forgot even goes over the river, until the cones and medians went up last winter and the lanes have been altered/reduced in this area.

I don’t know how long this will take but I think it will be worth it.  I’m really looking forward to getting this bridge and street open again.

People may be interested to know that last week at town meeting repair for the steps in front of the Memorial building was approved.  I can’t remember exactly when I noticed the cones appearing but I think it’s been at least a year, maybe more.  They are one of those things I always meant to inquire about but ended up forgetting so when it was brought up at town meeting, it was great to find out what the deal was.

People at my work who have gone through downtown have asked me “What’s up with all those cones on the stairs?” so it’ll be nice to have something so visible and a landmark downtown that isn’t crumbling and has caution cones all over the place.  Maybe I’ll even put on my converse all stars and run to the top!

 As I mentioned before there seemed to be some renovation celebration going on at the building of many restaurant incarnations, the last few were buffets of some type.

This decrepit building next to Ski Market rotted away on route 9 for a few years and when I saw that it was going to be a new restaurant I didn’t really know what to think.  Would this be another culinary flash in the pan at this cursed address?  I figured it would be but I have to say I was impressed with the renovation of the exterior and I’m guessing they are doing just as much work inside.  Even better would be if it has good food too.  I know it’s no guarantee, plenty of places look good but the food isn’t great and there are many dives that have great food, but I think it’s hopeful since who ever owns this is paying some attention to the building and spending a lot of money on their investment.

Before:

Present:

 

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but as I mentioned in another post, the traffic lights going from North to South in downtown are not timed/configured right.  This is a common display of what happens with the lights all the time - being told you can go but you can’t go because the lights in front of you are red. This is with no trains going by either. 
I heard the other day that this summer the traffic lights downtown are going to be recombobulated to allow cars to move.  Also good to know there is an actual team of people working on the 126 underpass dream/idea/plan.  Who knows, maybe one day driving through downtown might be a pleasant tolerable driving experience. 
Also nice, is that Framingham was granted $50,000 to do something with so on searching the town website I found a nice little document that explains how that money will be used to improve paths and lighting between the commuter rail and parking at Franklin St.

It’s easy to forget sometimes that people actually care about improving downtown and it’s not just a lost cause (although it’s hard not to feel that way sometimes).