Approval of the business signage for the opening of a second 7-Eleven store on Hanover Street was placed on hold by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) pending the chain-store meeting with residents to discuss the issue.
While the 7-Eleven did send a representative from one of its consulting firms to the North End/Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA) they failed to do the same for the North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC), a board elected by the community to represent neighborhood interests.
7-Eleven plans to open the new store at 340 Hanover St. before the end of the year, which may be all ready opened.
Operating hours will be 6 AM to 11 PM seven days a week and does not plan to seek a retail alcohol sales license.
Residents were told at the NEWRA meeting that the current store signage on the 7-Eleven will be taken down and changed. The new signage would not look like the usual national chain store signage.
The front of the store signage would be green and gold with 7-Eleven logo lit up, but not too brightly.
NEWRA Zoning, Licensing and Construction Committee and others that attended the monthly meeting had raised concerns that the proposed signs and logos lacked form, craftsmanship, character and did not conform to the historic context of the North End.
Plans originally provided by the owner showed only the signs proposed to be installed on the exterior faces of the store front just above the windows, as well as a “blade” sign on the corner of Hanover and North Bennet Streets, according to committee co-chair David Kubiak.
Kubiak also noted in a committee report that the plans do not show banners and logos are that have already been applied to the lower edge of the windows surrounding the establishment and the plans also do not show a lighted sign that now hangs just inside a window facing Hanover Street, close to the entrance door.
NEWRA did not vote on the verbal presentation for signage but instead decided to send a letter to the BRA clearly expressing their point of view.
Members of NEWNC were visibly upset that 7-Eleven did not attend their monthly public meeting to allow the community group the opportunity to review the signage plans.