DAVID TABER
EGLESTON SQ.—More than a half-dozen new storefronts will be coming to the neighborhood in the next three to four months.
Developer Ray Acevedo began the project of building seven new storefronts at 3137 Washington St. on the cor-ner of School street in 2006. Four of the storefronts are now complete and have tenants and a fifth is almost done, Acevedo said.
Two businesses—Alberto’s Barbershop and the Giro Express money transfer service—will relocate from other Acevedo-owned properties. Two will be occupied by new businesses—Best City Electronics, a home electronics store, and Brothers Multi-Service. Acevedo described the latter as a business that will include tax preparation and copying. It will be run by Jorge Martinez, brother of Onessimo Martinez, former owner of La Rapidita money transfer service and head of the Egleston Square Business Association.
Acevedo said he is “very nervous about the economy.” He has inquired with the United States Postal Service about opening a satellite office in the building, he said.
“That’s what I am looking for, somebody strong,” he said. “I don’t want to just have the place filled up and then have trouble.”
He said he was also in discussions with Radio Shack, but the national retailer would have needed more floor space than he has to offer.
Egleston Square Main Streets (ESMS) director Betsy Cowan said food service, groceries, office supplies, women’s and children’s resale clothing, bank branches and hardware stores are among community priorities for new retail in the square, based on surveys conducted by ESMS in 2007.
Acevedo said he is not interested in leasing to a restaurant or grocer.
“There are too many restaurants and the liability is just too much,” and there is a grocery store a few doors down, he said.