Business & Tech

Neighbors Reject Medford Street Beer and Wine Shop Proposal

The owner of Mystic Lofts was hoping to add a convenience store and high-end alcohol store on the building's lower level.

Members of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council this week voted down a plan to open a high-end beer and wine store in the lower level of the new Mystic Lofts development on Medford Street, expressing concerns about the proposed shop’s proximity to the high school and other issues.

The public meeting, which was jointly hosted by the CNC Development and Basic Services committees, was held Wednesday night in the Charlestown High School cafeteria.  Building owner Michael Rauseo was before the council seeking approval for two requests—first, a zoning change to allow for retail operations in the building and, second, a license to operate a beer and wine store there.

The five-story building at 267 Medford St., formerly known as the Nancy Sales building and now called “Mystic Lofts,” features up to 124 residential loft units as well as a lower parking level.

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Retail uses

Rauseo’s attorney, Patrick Sweeney, said the owners was looking to reduce the number of residential units from 124 to 121 and to add commercial use to the building’s first level, facing Medford Street—a small convenience store selling staples such as milk, bread and cigarettes and a small beer and wine store.

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Initially, Rauseo had been in talks with Starbucks Coffee Company about opening a café in the building, but that plan is not proceeding, Sweeney said.

The convenience store would be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and would not sell Keno or any other lottery items. The alcohol store, a second location for the Boston Wine Exchange located on Devonshire Street, would offer high-end beer and wine—not liquor.

Sweeney said that the Boston Wine Exchange provides an entirely different shopping experience than a usual liquor store, with employees not located behind the counter but instead greeting customers as they walk in and helping them to match upper end wines and craft beers to their tastes and needs.

“This is not a store where you go if you want to get a 30-pack and sit and watch the game,” Sweeney said.

In comparing the Boston Wine Exchange’s usual inventory against Charlestown’s other liquor stores—McCarthy Bros. Liquors and Bunker Hill Liquors—Sweeney said he had found that only about 1 percent of the Exchange’s 1,555 wines could be found in stock at either store, and less than 8 percent of the Exchange’s 1,523 beers could be found in stock at either store.

However, representatives from both Charlestown liquor stores argued they could easily order any of those beers and wines and get it in the store for the customer as soon as the next day.

Community concerns

Sweeney said the wine and beer store would not have neon signs or other forms of exterior advertising, would be professionally run and responsibly managed and would sell items that are too high priced to appeal to underage consumers.

“This is not a Mecca for kids. A, they can’t afford it. B, they’re not going to be welcome in there because they have no reason to be there,” Sweeney said.

But others argued that high prices would not deter youth from trying to purchase alcohol at the store.

“Kids buy $200 Nike shoes. They’ll find the money,” said William Thomas, headmaster of Charlestown High School.

Thomas said the school was working hard to “stamp out” a marijuana problem among members of the student body and that he didn’t want to see an alcohol problem develop. He also worried that adults might pick up alcohol at the nearby store and attempt to bring it into evening basketball and football games at the school.

Beth Rosenshein, director of the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition, cited several articles and studies on the effects alcohol advertising and availability have on youth.

She also referenced Charlestown’s recent community health assessment, in which about 75 percent of respondents said that alcohol and substance abuse was the leading health issue among adults and youth in the community.

“The proximity of this store to the high school, the access the kids have to this, sends a message,” Rosenshein said.

Others said they didn’t feel Charlestown needs another place to buy beer and wine.

“I don’t see any need for this whatsoever,” one Medford Street resident said, while another resident said, “We don’t want it” and asked the property owner to “leave us alone.”

Another resident, who lives about three houses down from Mystic Lofts and has three children under eight years old, said a wine and beer shop was “the last thing I want to see in my neighborhood.”

He cited statistics showing a higher crime rate around liquor stores.

“We’ve got enough crime in this town,” he said.

Next steps

Others spoke in favor of the business, saying they have been to the other Boston Wine Exchange location and were impressed by the way it was run. One Medford Street resident said she had initial concerns about a wine and beer shop opening in the neighborhood but that her mind was “put at ease” after she visited the Exchange on Devonshire Street.

In the end, all six of the CNC members in attendance voted to support a retail use at the Mystic Lofts site but only if it did not include any sale of alcohol.

The issue will go before the council’s executive board for a final recommendation before a Boston Zoning Board of Appeal hearing on July 9. The hearing will address only the request to reduce the number of residential units and add retail to the site, not the alcohol license, according to Bill Galvin, CNC Basic Services Committee chairman.


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