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When is the New '2ovens' Restaurant Opening in Newton?

The Board of Aldermen's Land Use Committee recently approved special permits to allow outdoor seating at the new Needham Street restaurant.

The Board of Aldermen's Land Use Committee approved last week a special permit that would allow 20 outdoor seats at the new "2ovens" restaurant space located at 300 Needham St. in Newton Upper Falls.  The outdoor seating approval comes four months after the Board of Aldermen approved an initial special permit amendment that allows a 100-seat restaurant at the Needham Street location.  So, when will the new Bertucci's-owned restaurant open?  According to a recent email from Bertucci's Vice President of Development James Quackenbush, the Newton 2ovens is aiming to open sometime in late May.  The 90-seat eatery will feature two ovens in the center of the restaurant. The ovens, which are imported from Italy, will be the only tools used to cook…

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Visions for Vacancies

Visions for Vacancies: Marshalls Plaza, 275 Needham St.

Tell us what you think should go in this empty storefront off Needham Street.

Welcome to Visions for Vacancies, a Patch feature and a place where you can weigh in with your ideas about what kind of businesses you’d like to see occupying empty storefronts around Newton. Each week, we’ll highlight a vacant building, storefront or structure around the city. Then, we’ll leave it you, the Newton community, to sound off on what you’d like to see there. This week we’re at 275 Needham St., Marshalls Plaza. This plaza is in one of the city's major shopping districts: the Needham Street corridor. Despite the large amount of retail traffic, there are a couple of empty storefront in this plaza, including the one pictured to the right. Other businesses in this plaza include Marshalls, CVS and Fresh City.  As for parking, there …

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Mark Golden

4:32 pm on Sunday, July 1, 2012

I did not grossly overestimate. I simply never estimated at all. Was it was you who remembered that I once wrote for my magazine! And besides, that request for funding was in reality a general request meant for the general public who might like to find a worth whiloe project if they have some money just sititng sround the house, not doing anything useful. You know, like a teenager sits around the…   more ›

Details on Renovations at Needham Street Starbucks, McDonald's

McDonald's hopes to reopen sometime in June, while Starbucks will be back in business next week.

Updated 6:30 p.m. Needham Street certainly is busy these days. Between the hubbub over Jonathan's Bar & Grill opening soon and work at the now-closed Pizzapalooza spot, you may have missed a bit of renovation going on at Starbucks.  The Needham Street location of the Seattle-based coffee chain is currently closed for renovations. According to a Starbucks spokesman, the location will reopen a week from today, April 26.  Once the 10-day renovation is finished, the coffee shop will have new furniture inside and out as well as a Clover brewing system, the spokesman said via email.  In addition, the store will have a new layout and "flow," to help with the coffee shop's small size.   As we noted last month, the McDonald's on Needham Street is …

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Melanie Graham

9:11 am on Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Actually just heard from McDonald's -- They said the opening date has been pushed back a bit, but they are definitely opening "soon." They don't have an exact date, but they will let us know when they have one. So -- stay tuned!   more ›

Discussion of Needham Street's Future Dampened by Budget Realities

Residents discussed many potential improvements to the business corridor at a city-sponsored meeting.

Many possible improvements to Needham Street were mentioned at a meeting held Wednesday night to discuss residents' hopes for the corridor, but the talk was tempered by the reality that Newton likely won't have the money to make significant changes in the near future. City planning officials are preparing to write a new master plan for the Needham Street business corridor, and before doing so, held the latest in a series of meetings June 1 to generate resident input. Newton's planning department has made the development of a new master plan for Needham Street a priority. Such a plan would dictate how long-term changes in the street's layout would help to encourage pedestrian traffic, mixed-use development and a more unified business …

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Residents Voice Opinions, Ideas for Needham Street Development

Newton residents gathered to share their ideas for a new Needham St. passageway on Thursday night.

Roughly 50 Newton residents gathered at City Hall's War Memorial to participate in an open forum and share their vision for the Needham passageway on Thursday night. Following a brief presentation by Planning and Development Director Candace Havens, the crowd was divided up into small groups to reflect on ways that the passageway could be better. The small groups were asked to list the things they liked about the current passageway and the aspects that might be improved by the major proposed renovations. The community input meeting on Thursday evening was the latest step in a thorough planning process by the city of Newton. As part of a semester-long project, a group of first- and second-year MIT graduate students in the Department of …

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Plan to Remake Needham Street Revealed

A group of MIT graduate students displayed their findings after two months of research.

A preliminary plan that could change the landscape of Needham Street was unveiled to local officials and members of the community Thursday night at City Hall. As part of a semester-long project, a group of MIT graduate students in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning showcased their initial findings related to possible changes to the commercial road tucked between of Rte. 9 and Rte. 128.  The plan looks to transform the busy commercial area into a destination point with mixed use buildings, safer walkways and more open spaces. "This is one of the most haphazard streets in Newton," said Travis Sheehan, a graduate student in the group. "It is sort of that funny relationship between one of its brightest future growth points and one…

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