&pizza has closed permanently in Harvard Square after drawn-out fight to open in prominent spot
The Harvard Square &pizza is empty Wednesday, closed after a little more than three years in business. (Photo: Marc Levy)
A pizza shop at a premier location in Harvard Square has shut down permanently after a hard-fought campaign to open but little more than three years in business.
The &pizza site – the only one in Massachusetts for the seven-state chain – won approval in late September 2017 to open at 3 Brattle St., a space that was formerly the Tory Row restaurant and Nini’s Corner newsstand. But &pizza didn’t open until Feb. 2, 2019, and had only about a year in operation before the coronavirus pandemic arrived to shut businesses’ doors.
Massachusetts Avenue and Brattle Street join in front of the &pizza location, a nexus for people walking through the square. It is also directly across from the brick Harvard Square plaza that includes an MBTA headhouse, making the storefront one of the first things seen by thousands of people a day emerging from a subway or bus ride.
A lone &pizza worker was scrubbing down the counter of the emptied-out storefront at midday Wednesday; the Milk Bar dessert counter in the easternmost portion of the space was still serving customers.
The Milk Bar dessert counter, seen in November, continues to serve at 3 Brattle St. (Photo: Marc Levy)
The &pizza worker confirmed that he and other staff were told Monday that the site was closed permanently. The cause was “staff shortages and other causes beyond our control,” he said, quoting a memo from the Washington, D.C.-based chain.
Attempts to reach the company Wednesday for more information failed. &pizza offers no way to contact offices through its website; questions were left by text at a hometown store, but not answered. This story may be updated with information from &pizza or its landlord, Asana.
Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said Wednesday that the company had not communicated that it was closing, but that she was not shocked by the shutdown. “There were a couple of things going on with &pizza. First and foremost was how difficult it was to get them open,” Jillson said. “And then Covid came, and the lack of foot traffic and business.”
Board of Zoning Appeal approvals for the site came after nearly a year of permitting process and a dozen public meetings that included long debates over whether Harvard Square “needed” another pizza shop – Milk Bar’s presence was elevated to make &pizza distinct from other pizza sellers – and such details as whether umbrellas would be allowed for outside dining and the design and color of awnings. The okay also came after the property owners warned that if the next tenant wasn’t &pizza, “it’s gonna be a financial institution.”
Some of the delay resulted from neighbors’ opposition. Suzanne Blier, of the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, warned at the time not just against another chain business coming to the square, but one that encouraged its workers to brand themselves with company-inspired ampersand tattoos.
“This is a vital and very visible corner of Harvard Square, and while we hate to see any business close, hopefully a wonderful locally owned business will be able to move in here,” Blier said Wednesday by email.
Jillson agreed that &pizza’s “premier location in Harvard Square … will not be vacant for very long,” though she didn’t know the nature of &pizza’s lease with Asana, the North Carolina company that bought 1-8 Brattle St. and 17-41A Brattle St. in a $108 million deal in December 2017. Some storefronts remain empty for months or years as their leases wind down, but “it does not behoove anyone to leave the location vacant for long – or at all,” Jillson said.
The presence of Milk Bar is a complicating factor. Zoning officials once warned &pizza executives that if Milk Bar left, they’d have to come back for a new permit; now it’s Milk Bar faced with &pizza’s departure. A worker at Milk Bar said the business was expected to stay at Brattle Street, but more would be known after a Friday meeting with company executives.
You know what Harvard Square needs? Another bank. Maybe Wells Fargo is looking to expand business in Boston! I read about the extended permitting process of &Pizza and it was some crazy unreasonable red tape. One year. No wonder why it’s the national corporations with deep pockets that are calling Harvard Square home sweet home.
Opening in a pandemic in some of the most expensive real estate in the City and using the space to sell pizza as part of a super expanding chain that appears to have its money coming from a Republican booster (Stephen M. Ross) who has been funding a SuperPac against Progressive Democrats… while pretending to be a diversity business that gives lip service to BLM and fake support of raising the minimum wage… yeah a recipe for self inflicted disaster and not the regulation process.
My guess is the boycott against the Republicans behind the scenes and the word on the street thru the back channels about their lies caught up to them.
Of course, the tattoo is a synecdoche for the restaurant–hourly workers and customers are cajoled to brand themselves for life by a group not serious enough to make a good enough pie for people to return, to treat employees well enough for them to stay, or even to complete their lease when times get tough.
Blier is kind today, but we should all remember the basic point of HSNA’s resistance years ago was that Harvard Square deserved better. It’s too bad that Asana and others weren’t listening. Now something that was just skin deep leaves us with a painful removal process and faint scar.
^^^^ I approve this message.
even in the best of days I didn’t see anyone in there. I found the decor concept borderline kitchy. The process was long because they kept trying to undermine design and zoning. And they encouraged their workers to get “&” tattoos for branding. Harvard Sq deserves a better more inclusive business catering to more than students and 20-somethings.
I didn’t know Asana owned that building as well. That’s that whole bend of Brattle Sq. so long, mom and pops. And so long &Pizza! now cross your fingers at the next business franchise with deep pockets.
Yes Tagus it’s a toss up between a bank or pot shop.
Was just at a small local business on mass ave. Not renewing their lease in another year. Guess the number one reason? Gee I wonder. The uncertainty along with visually seeing what’s happened in the quick build section.
Let’s all say a prayer the super smart road “designers” learn from the disaster created in n Cambridge or else the city will be left hollowed out. A lot is riding pardon the pun on the design and implementation of this 44m.
Asana is a developer from North Carolina that is made up of an entirely white staff who have no idea what Cambridge is all about. Did they read the letter posted in Black Ink’s window that we didn’t want National chains and look what we got! I have written letters to the City Counsel and City Manager that have never been answered about the lies Mr. Chan has perpetrated about his ownership of the Church Street property and all he was going to do with it, yet once again no one has held his feet to the fire to make it happen. It is fine to change the names of HSPH and HMS to begin with his due to his donations, but not make him stand by his word when it comes to Church St. We all know he has the money to make it happen.