Finagle A Bagel Could Be Coming To Brookline, But Not Without Pushback

BROOKLINE, MA – Plans to bring a Finagle A Bagel bakery to Brookline have sparked controversy and opposition among residents and Brookline’s Planning Board, according to zoning board of appeals documents.

The bagel company currently has one location in Back Bay located at 535 Boylston St., but is looking to expand to Brookline Village.

Architectural blueprints submitted to Brookline’s building department in February show plans to demolish the existing 150-year old, three-story office building at 370 Washington St. and build a new one-story commercial building with a modern flat roof and glazed storefront.

The new structure would serve as a food and beverage retail business, Finagle A Bagel, and would include a customer transaction counter inside and a walk-up service counter outside with seasonal outdoor seating.

In addition, off-street parking spaces would be increased from six to seven, and two spaces would be equipped with EV charging (the remaining 5 will be EV-ready), according to the planning board’s report.

The building is not located in a local historic district nor is it on the national register, and is currently vacant, according to a community and environmental impact statement.

But some residents have opposed the proposed demolition because of the building’s historical features and curb appeal.

“It is a classic Victorian that deserves to be preserved. The proposed one story building here is both ugly and inconsistent with the surrounding buildings and of Brookline Village. A one story contemporary storefront is out of character for the neighborhood,” Andrew Fischer, a Brookline Town Meeting Member for precinct 13, wrote in an email voicing opposition to the project.

Similarly, Brookline’s planning department voiced concerns about the modern building looking out of place among the town’s historic buildings and homes nearby, and opposed the proposal.

“While appreciating the potential addition of a bakery business in the area, the proposed structure is undersized and does not properly engage with the public. The sales area is too small, there is no indoor seating, and the lack of public access to bathrooms in a new building is undesirable,” the board wrote in their report. “This results in more than 90% of the building being inaccessible to the public.”

The board added that a building replicating the footprint of the existing three-story structure, with office space or housing above the first-floor retail use, would align better with the neighborhood and conform with the town’s goals to densify specific commercial corridors.

Updated architectural blueprints were submitted in June, showing plans to add restrooms to the building, and change the exterior of the building from sleek aluminum in the initial proposal to a more traditional white wooden exterior. The building is set to remain one story, the blueprints show.

The Zoning Board of Appeals is set to discuss the proposal at a meeting on Thursday, June 15 at 7 p.m.