News

SEBA brings a lighter side to networking

by Michele D.  Maniscalco
Thursday Jul 12, 2018

In addition to its regularly scheduled Coffee Mornings on the third Wednesday of each month at the South End Buttery, 314 Shawmut Avenue, the South End Business Alliance (SEBA) let its hair down, so to speak, with its annual barbecue on June 28 at Above and Beyond Catering, 42 Plympton Street, on June 28 followed by a social at Bootleg Special, 400 Tremont Street on July 9, giving members a chance to meet, greet and compare notes on local business concerns after work hours in a relaxed setting.

SEBA president Eve Ward estimated attendance at the annual picnic at approximately 45 guests, who dined on updated versions of traditional picnic fare including quinoa salad with asparagus and snap peas, potato salad, succotash, black bean burgers and hamburgers, and homemade potato chips with pan-fried onion dip.

Dessert comprised a sumptuous selection of cookies and small pastries. At the Bootleg Special social, approximately 12 guests sat around a long table sharing appetizers courtesy of SEBA and cocktails.

In a telephone interview, Ward said the morning coffee gatherings and evening socials have different tones and draw different audiences. "The coffees are more business focused and evening socials are more relationship based. The daytime get-together is quieter and more formal; the evenings are more relaxed."

Reflecting on the Bootleg Special get-together, Ward said, "I think it is really good to have more relaxed conversation when it comes to the South End. It's about building relationships. During the day, it's hard for retail companies to come out. The Coffee Mornings are more for people who work at home. It's a much more organic conversation in the evening around what's going in where, who is going to rent open spaces."

Some SEBA members described the challenges of remaining in this rapidly developing neighborhood with soaring real estate prices. Mark Haley, who opened Above and Beyond Catering at 42 Plympton in 1996 has been active with SEBA for about 20 years. "SEBA's great," he said. Haley has been considering moving his business out of the South End for some years.

Haley said, "We are out of space, and we can't afford to grow bigger here because I can't afford the space. Parking for employees as well as housing [are a problem] for employees: It's too expensive to live in Boston so some of them are moving away." He continued, "We have five trucks, and the neighbors are starting to complain about us parking our trucks everywhere. It's funny, because we've been here since 1996 and they haven't been around that long. There's a lot going on, and it might be better to work in a more spacious area than we have here on Plympton Street."

A Dorchester resident, Haley would like to find a workspace near his home. "I need a space close to downtown," Haley explained. He continued, "My landlord is awesome. If it weren't for him, I would never have stayed here this long."

At the Bootleg Special social, a conversation arose about the difficulties local businesses can face when real estate prices climb precipitously and investors enter the market, paying inflated prices for properties that they intend to rent rather than operate a business in. Martin Ober, a diabetes researcher at Tufts University, weighed in on the phenomenon as it unfolded in his native Lower East Side of New York."

A perfect example is the West Village in New York. It went from local businesses that had been there for decades, and then they got Tory Burch and it exploded; nobody could afford to be there. There wasn't any 'there' there that isn't in an upscale mall or on Madison Avenue. The whole neighborhood loses its character."

Obin added, "One thing that is still working in the South End is that you still have these neighborhood businesses. They're not cheap-although some of them are, like the Syrian dry-goods store on Shawmut Avenue. It's beautiful that we have that next to South End Formaggio, which is insanely expensive." Ward said, "We [SEBA] have been working with realtors and developers. I'm not sure we can entirely control the growth, but we can help people who want to do business here and be part of the community. What we are trying to figure out is how we can help integrate businesses that are going to be successful here...Affordable food is going to be a big focus. There are so few places that are affordable. We love the restaurants of course, but affordable food is important for the service people and other workers."

SEBA's next event spotlights the South End's past. On August 1 at 6:00 PM at the AC Marriott Hotel, 225 Albany Street, SEBA will host a talk by South End Historical Society executive director Lauren Prescott on her book, "Boston's South End", which illustrates neighborhood history through postcards and other images from SEHS's extensive collection.