New life for old Foxboro shopping center

By Bera Dunau, The Sun Chronicle, December 3, 2015

FOXBORO - Dowdy Foxfield Plaza will begin its transformation into Forbes Crossing next month.

Big changes are afoot at the 50-plus-years plaza, but patrons will still find some of their favorite restaurants at the plaza.

"It's going to be quite a beautiful property when it's finished," said Jeff Saletin, president of the Saletin Real Estate Group, which purchased the plaza this fall.

Saletin said that the redevelopment has gained all the necessary governmental approvals, and work on it will begin this winter.

"We expect to begin our work for the winter no later than the end of January," he said.

Saletin said the company has been redeveloping properties for 30 years, and manages more than a million square feet in building space, mostly retail.

The transformation of Foxfield Plaza into Forbes Crossing will involve some significant additions and subtractions to the property.

The Foxboro Furniture building will be demolished and a 139-room Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton hotels will be constructed in its place. A significant portion of the Foxfield plaza's strip mall also will be razed.

"We're demolishing just about 40 percent of the property," Saletin said.

Three pad sites will also be constructed as part of the new development. Saletin said two of them will have restaurants that will require liquor licenses.

"We need two liquor licenses for those restaurants," he said.

In keeping with this need, an article has been placed on the warrant for Foxboro's Feb. 23 special town meeting that will ask the state for two additional liquor licenses, which the town will then reserve for the economic development node centered around Forbes Crossing.

Saletin said the third pad site might include a restaurant that doesn't require a liquor license, or perhaps a bank.

Not everything in Forbes Crossing will be new, however.

All three restaurants currently operating out of Foxfield Plaza will be a part of Forbes Crossing, although some will be changing locations.

Bangkok Cafe, for instance, will be demolished and moved to a larger space where C & C Specialties is currently located.

Bangkok Cafe has been in its current location for 24 years, but manager Danny Titisuttikul says he's excited for the change. He also said that the new development will be one of the highlights on Route 140.

"I would think so, yes," Titisuttikul said, when asked if he thought that the coming hotel would improve business at the restaurant.

He said Bangkok Cafe has been promised its new space by Feb. 15, but said the move will happen around May or June, and that the current location will only be closed for one or two weeks for the switchover.

Titisuttikul also said a Buddhist monk will bless the new space once it opens.

Antonia's Deli will move to a space next to the new Bangkok Cafe, while Mandarin Chef will stay in its current location, making it so the three restaurants will all be next to one another.

Titisuttikul isn't the only businessman looking forward to the redevelopment.

"We're excited for the change," said Jason Rega-Oliveira, owner of threeSixnine The Hair Studio, which will stay in the new development.

The Edible Arrangements in Foxfield Plaza also confirmed it will be staying.

Not all plaza businesses will be staying in the redevelopment.

C & C Specialties and Hobby Quarters will leave, while Integrated Security is discussing whether it will leave or move to another space in the mall. Carpet Etc. has not confirmed whether it will stay or go, although its currently space is set to be demolished.

Saletin acknowledge a focus on restaurants, noting the large number of people who live in the immediate area.

"67,000 people live within a 10-minute drive of that site," he said. "The demand seems to be restaurants and retail."

Saletin said the final development will be pedestrian friendly, and will include lantern-style street lamps with LED lighting. He also said that the view corridor to Route 140 would be opened.

Latest Foxfield Plaza plan a 'gem'

By Frank Mortimer, The Sun Chronicle, July 28, 2015

FOXBORO — Foxboro’s “Gem” motto will carry more weight once Foxfield Plaza — a strip mall at the Central Street gateway from Mansfield to Foxboro — shows more sparkle.

Abutter Russ Reardon, 56, of Vernal Avenue offered that viewpoint last Thursday after a plan to remake the old plaza with a 139-room hotel, a bank, restaurants and renovated retail space won key zoning approvals.

“It’s a blight,” Reardon said of the mall in its current condition. “As the leaders of the town say, this is The Gem of Norfolk County. You come in there now, and it’s no gem.”

He said he supports the plan presented by local attorney Frank Spillane and developer Jeffrey Saletin, of Saletin Real Estate Group in Cranston, R.I.

The facility at 369 Central St. would be a Hampton Inn & Suites with the Hilton company.

Mark A. Landry, of High Road Hospitality in Bristol, R.I., said the hotel will offer breakfast to its guests, but not for the general public. The hotel will have a daytime meeting room, but will not host banquets. It will not be an extended-stay hotel.

“It’s a place where we try to stay quiet,” Landry said.

He said the hotel would, however, want to “partner” with local restaurants such as Antonia’s Italian Cuisine, one of the current tenants.

After their presentation and comments from several residents — none of whom opposed the plan — zoning board members J. Neil Forster, Barnett Ovrut and David Brown unanimously approved three special permits and a variance for the project.

One of the special permits would allow a hotel of four stories, 42 feet in height, on the parcel zoned for three stories, 40 feet in height.

The variance allows a front yard setback of 50 feet where 100 feet is required.

Reardon said he is glad the site is targeted for new commercial development, rather for another apartment complex.

“I think it will be a great addition to Foxfield Plaza,” agreed Dan Miller, a Roberts Street resident who lives on the opposite side of Route 140, where a 248-unit apartment complex is proposed off Fisher Street.

“I think it’s better than what was proposed before,” said Leo Potter of Alex Lane, a retired Foxboro water and sewer superintendent, who had raised concerns about a Big Y supermarket plan there that fell through a couple of years ago.

The Foxborough Boulevard access near Commercial Street (Route 140) — now the back of the mall — would be redesigned as the main entrance to the new site to attract business and reduce neighborhood impacts in the Central Street area.

“It’s really going to be the gateway into Foxboro coming off Route 140 in Mansfield,” Saletin said later, noting that the plaza stands at the Mansfield-Foxboro town line.

A 24-foot-wide landscaped driveway will span the site between Commercial and Central Streets, winding past the hotel, which will sit on what is now the Foxboro Furniture side of the parcel.

That shape of the driveway will have a traffic calming effect, said project manager Eric Prive of DiPrete Engineering.

Endorsing the idea of the interior driveway, Reardon, the Vernal Avenue abutter, said motorists now race across the Foxfield Plaza parking lot, using it as a shortcut between Central Street and Foxborough Boulevard or Route 140.

The L-shaped retail mall will be rebuilt and reshaped. The wing which currently ends at Bangkok Cafe will be shortened. The Foxboro Furniture building, the current anchor, will be replaced by the hotel.

The lot totals about 11.4 acres — 9.7 acres in Foxboro, zoned for highway business, plus 1.7 acres in Mansfield, zoned residential. No building is planned on the Mansfield side, Spillane said.

Saletin praised the existing businesses located in Foxfield Plaza and said he looks forward to talking with those who are interested in staying in the renovated mall.

“We feel it would be a real good home for those tenants who want to stay on with us,” Saletin said.

The project still needs to go before the planning board and the conservation commission.

After the developer’s informal presentation to the planning board on July 9, chairman Kevin Weinfeld wrote that his board supports the concept and will review the specifics during the formal site plan hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

“The project will help to re-energize a tired development in town,” Weinfeld wrote, adding that it’s located in an area targeted for growth in Foxboro’s master plan; would also reduce the number of curb cuts on Central Street; and would help reduce speeding cut-through traffic.

Town manager Bill Keegan also supports the concept, building commissioner Bill Casbarra told the zoning board.