Dick's Sporting Goods, Instead of Restaurants, Headed to Northborough Shops

Readers have been asking if restaurants are coming to the newly opening Northborough Shops at Northborough Crossing located at the junction of routes 9 and 20.

While it is bustling with retail already with stores such as BJ's, Babies 'R Us, TJ Maxx and the soon-to-open Wegmans, the restaurants developers had originally hoped to attract aren't signing on. Not yet, anyway.

That left developers of the Shops at Northborough Crossing, New England Development, to go with plan B, which will bring in a Dick's Sporting Goods to fill the spots that they had hoped to be restaurants.

"There has been a problem, frankly, getting restaurants to come out here," said Attorney Marshall Gould, who attended the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Wednesday to discuss the change in direction.

Gould, along with members of New England Development, laid out a detailed presentation of the changes they were making to the original proposed plan. Since starting the process of Northborough Crossing in 2005, the economy has changed, of course. Gould said it is the primary reason it has been difficult to get restaurants to sign on to be a part of the shopping plaza.

"They wanted it, originally, to be an upscale mall similar to the Natick Collection," said Gould, "and they'd have five or so yuppie restaurants. And we arranged for site-specific serving licenses. This business model has collapsed in the new economy, and it wouldn't fly here."

Since there have been changes — namely that Dick's would add 40,000 square footage — New England Development, in keeping with town law, detailed the changes to the ZBA. Outlining these changes into seven parts, which mostly show this new direction would not affect parking, water or sewer issues and traffic, the ZBA deemed that the changes were acceptable and "not significant."

Gould also pointed out that changing direction wouldn't prohibit a restaurant from coming to Northborough Crossing in the future, and he hopes some will be added.

An upscale steakhouse that was originally interested in moving in to Northborough Crossing had withdrawn, but is showing interest again, said the developers.

"This is the only development of this size that is succeeding if you look around the Northeast," said Gould. "Wegmans was the anchor to make this this success that it is. Everything is rented up there except for those three restaurant buildings. And the buzz in the retail world is that people are knocking at the door, and New England Development made the determination that Dick's would be a nice complement."