James Hook Burns Down on the Greenway

[stellarfun]

Certainly a landmarlk. Certainly a nice development parcel. Wonder if they will rebuild?

[Corey]

Sad news indeed. Certainly a desirable location in which to rebuild.

[PaulC]

Watch for architectural renderings any day now. Federal Maritime law makes it very hard to do demolition over navigable waterways. Remember the suspicious fire just down the channel about 25 years ago, just after the Globe ran a story about how difficult it would be to remove the shed that was overhanging the channel.

After the fire in Blackstone Sq., the Bostonian Hotel paraded full plans within what must have been days. They have never built the addition however. My belief is they are being punished. I can't prove that but it's been about 15-20 years since the fire.

[commuter guy]

What a shame. The combination of this fire and the City's hellbent efforts to eliminate the Barking Crab will result in a loss of the few remaining vestiges of uniqueness for this corner of the city.

[Suffolk 83]

this is too bad.. heard the owners are vowing to rebuild and not give in to developers.

I'm holding out hope that Barking Crab stays, Hynes and the city are pushing them out but that most recent shutdown was completely bogus. I mean really.

[daimio1]

this is too bad.. heard the owners are vowing to rebuild and not give in to developers.

I'm holding out hope that Barking Crab stays, Hynes and the city are pushing them out but that most recent shutdown was completely bogus. I mean really.

have you guys been to the barking crab? it is semi bad food that is way overpriced. mixed with poor service and bad ownership, its not really worth saving as is. true the buildling is interesting and unique, but the business itself is not.

hook on the otherhand, i hope they rebuild with a bigger restaurant space.

[commuter guy]

Your right. The food stinks at the Barking Crab, but the beer tastes just a good there as at other bars and the view is better.

[atlrvr]

Fuuuuuuuccccccccccckkkkkkk.....thought it was a joke

[Boston02124]

It's gone! http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/xxxphoto001.jpg http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/xxxphoto009.jpg http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/xxxphoto004.jpg

[vanshnookenraggen]

Fuuuuuuuccccccccccckkkkkkk

Seconded. The last remaining vestige of the old Boston Waterfront enters history.

[ablarc]

The last remaining vestige of the old Boston Waterfront enters history.
Did the lobsters die?

[statler]

Did the lobsters die?

The blaze devoured 60,000 pounds of lobster, which was valued at up to $9 a pound.
.

[itchy]

At least My Uncle's Backyard in Sudbury -- wait, I mean the Greenway -- was not harmed.

[GMACK24]

My Photos From yesterday.
Yes very sad. ..

James Hook March 2007

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2416/2536387978_f8c7ef7300.jpg

Photos of the Aftermath :
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2537393680_64c3eaeb2a.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/2537393704_c308a9482c.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/2537393698_a7d7a15151.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2025/2536901570_f088be21b7.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2536901634_e3acdd95a4.jpg

You can view LARGER versions of these photos HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/

[stellarfun]

I think whether they rebuild there will depend on how much insurance they have, and whether the pilings on which much of the structure stood need or ought to be replaced.

Rebuilding the same funky motif shouldn't be expensive or take long. If they gussy it up with a nicer metal roof, brick and cinderblock, that will take more time.

[statler]

I'm guessing that fire, safety and environmental codes will dictate a lot of what the future site will look like.

[tobyjug]

It's not as bad as it looks if the supporting pier structure is undamaged.

[statler]

Well played, Globe. Well played.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2173/2538894498_60bbd92ae9_o.jpg

[BarbaricManchurian]

^^What about it? You do know that the search results are determined by computers, not by people.

[Boston02124]

The site always looked like shit,but everytime you passed it ,It gave you that old Boston feeling,I drive by it every work day and it will be sadly missed! No replacement is going to give you that same vibe! every thing around this area has now been changed, new bridge,new and altered buildings,parks ect. http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/proposed%20and%20then%20what%20was%20built/xcranes457.jpg

[Lurker]

60,000lbs of lobster at 1.25 to 1.5lbs per lobster is 40-48,0000 dead lobsters if they boiled in their tanks before the building could have collapsed to free them into the channel. I suspect Boston Fire will be eating well for the next month......

If they survived with the partial collapse into the channel, in a few years given the pollution in the channel a legion of C.H.U.D.s will arise to their revenge upon the Seaport District. /Hey Sci-Fi channel there's your low budget b-movie for next year.

If they died, I DEMAND A MEMORIAL FOR THE LOBSTERS to grace our glorious median strip. Imagine a farmers or fish market underneath a giant red sculptural mass signifying the historic, economic, and delicious importance of lobsters to the commonwealth. Someone has to one up the old kinetic sculpture lost at the aquarium and the chicken-wire dragon at the WTC. Besides how could our heartless commonwealth turn a blind eye to the genocide of 40-48,000 of our tasty historically and economically important aquatic friends. I smell an earmark.....

[statler]

^^What about it? You do know that the search results are determined by computers, not by people.

Yes, I'm well aware how online search results are generated, but I'm a simple man and simple things like that amuse me.

On topic, thankfully nobody was hurt (except the lobsters and they didn't have much going for them anyway), and hopefully whatever is rebuilt will be able to recapture some of what was lost. :(

[ablarc]

Cause of fire?

[briv]

One thing that always really bothered me about this building was how it and its parking lot disrupted--in a major way--the otherwise continuous harbor walk. Hopefully any redevelopment fixes this.

Ideally, I'd like to see this site redeveloped in conjunction with the restoration/development of the N. Ave Bridge. I think the additional adjacent property would make that project much more feasible.

[statler]

Cause of fire?


Nobody knows yet.

Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/31/7_alarm_fire_destroys_landmark_lobster_business/) - May 31, 2008
7-alarm fire destroys landmark lobster business
James Hook owners vow to return

By Megan Woolhouse and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | May 31, 2008

Even as swank steel and glass office buildings rose up around it, the squat, wooden James Hook & Co. lobster warehouse remained near Rowes Wharf in downtown Boston, a modest, even grubby reminder of Boston's seafaring soul.

Operated by four successive generations of Hook family members since 1925, the company kept its homespun feel even as it grew to become one of the country's largest lobster distributors. Relatives could often be found serving lobster rolls at the lunch counter, packing lobsters for shipping, or crunching numbers in the office.

The Hook clan gathered in the parking lot of the business yesterday, some in tears. A 7-alarm fire ravaged the business early yesterday morning, destroying a half- million dollars worth of lobster and reducing the landmark to a smoldering heap of charred wood and corrugated metal. The Hook family said yesterday that they have already begun looking at spaces where they could relocate.

Edward Hook II, one of the owners, told reporters that if the business survived the Big Dig, which occurred right outside its front door, it can survive a fire. The hope, they said, was to rebuild where the business has always stood.

"We will set up a trailer, we will set up a tent. I don't know what we are going to do, but we will find a way," he said. "Once this mess is cleaned up, we will find a way."

Fire officials said the cause of the fire was unknown yesterday. Officials estimated the damage at $5 million.

The alarm company that monitors the business alerted the family to the disaster shortly after 3 a.m. Stephen MacDonald a spokesman for the Fire Department, said firefighters at a station just two blocks away from the business learned of the blaze when 911 calls began flooding the dispatch center.

More than 135 firefighters battled the blaze into the daylight, including a scuba team that dove into the harbor and sprayed the rear of the building with seawater for several hours, and a Massachusetts Port Authority fireboat that doused the structure using a powerful pump. The Fire Department's large fireboat could not be used because it is too big to float under the Northern Avenue bridge.

Several Hook family members drove into the city from their homes on the North Shore and found flames leaping from the roof of the business. Hook said he saw smoke as he drove along the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge and "knew there was trouble." Employee John Mazurkiewicz, a Hook cousin, said he had tears in his eyes as he walked up Atlantic Avenue and saw flames devouring the place where he had worked since he was 16. He is now 52.

"To see that landmark the way it was is pretty powerful," he said. "You just never think anything like this is going to happen, but when it does, it strikes home."

Cardboard boxes, used by the Hook family to ship lobsters, as well as the creosote-soaked wooden pilings on which part of the business rested, helped fuel the flames. The interior of the business was always moist, if not soaking wet, from the tankloads of lobster housed there, and several family members said they were surprised that the building caught fire. The business housed more than 300 tanks, filled with continuously circulating sea water and able to hold 1,000 pounds of lobster. More than 60,000 pounds of live lobsters - worth more than a half-million dollars - were lost in the blaze.

When asked by reporters yesterday whether he knew how the fire started, Hook answered succinctly: "Not a clue. Not a clue."

The smell of smoke filled the area yesterday, and firefighters and demolition crews drew the attention of joggers and people on their way to work who stopped in their tracks at the sight of the smoldering building. Throughout the day, people snapped photos of the destruction with cellphone cameras.

Hook opened in that location at a time when many lobster shacks and fish houses dotted the Atlantic Avenue shoreline. Since then, most have either shuttered or moved to South Boston, leaving Hook as a last vestige of downtown's maritime past.

Today, many well-dressed people who work in the area spoke wistfully about Hook's lobster rolls. Andrea Ponsetto, a computer analyst at Fidelity Investments, said she visited Hook's every spring to get one with a chips and a soda. She said it was a joy to eat it outside overlooking the harbor.

"It just looks like you'd find it in Maine," she said of the business, "not in a major financial district."

Steve Botchie, who works in South Boston, said he and his extended family had a longstanding tradition of swooping into Hook's to collect seafood - mostly lobster - for a Christmas banquet.

"I think they absolutely" should rebuild, he said. "It's a Boston landmark."

Many appreciated the business's lack of pretentiousness, especially in an area where yachts have come to outnumber fishing boats. The Hook company name was mounted in huge, homemade, white wooden letters nailed to the side of the building. The store's dank interior smelled intensely of seafood. Hook & Co. sold as much as 3 million pounds of lobster in a single year, family members said, much of it caught in Canada, trucked into Boston, and sent worldwide.

Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, said restaurants in Boston and beyond will probably feel the pinch.

"The Hook company was one of the stalwarts of the distribution system," said "He was one of the big boys."

Hook said he and his son were the last to leave the business on Thursday when they closed the doors about 5 p.m. Nothing was amiss, he said.

"I expected to be here this morning, opening the door and doing business as usual," he said.

Instead, Hook and other family members coordinated demolition crews late into the afternoon and evening. Most family members said they wanted the debris cleared quickly because it was too painful to look at the ruins. Many family members sat on the pavement and watched somberly, including Michael Goto, a 26-year-old fourth-generation Hook family member.

"It's like someone in the family died," he said.

The family has fought off temptations to sell the increasingly valuable piece of land for real estate development, but quickly the talk of Atlantic Avenue became whether Hook would continue to operate on that site, wedged between so many grand office buildings and pricey hotels.

Gimmy Hook, the business's bookkeeper whose grandfather founded the business, said he was in shock. He said the business would reopen, but probably not on the same scale, he said. And its ambiance is irreplaceable.

"This has been a landmark here since 1925. We had so many pictures inside, so many memories," he said. "We'll be back though."

[stellarfun]

At some point, it looks as if this thread will be on the new developments board.

nvestigators yesterday combed through the rubble of James Hook & Co., searching for clues to the cause of Friday?s seven-alarm fire at the landmark seafood company.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said investigators hope to determine soon what started the predawn blaze, which resulted in an estimated $5 million loss for the owner, including 60,000 pounds of lobster.

?There?s a lot of history here,? co-owner Al Hook said as he surveyed the wreckage, smoldering a day later. ?It?s like a wake, we?ve gotten so many condolences. Everyone has been good to us.?

The waterfront business had been in the family for three generations. Customers could buy fresh lobster rolls and pick clams from baskets and lobsters from tanks.

?It?s really sad to see it go,? said Judy Peterson, who?s bought seafood there for 10 years and went by yesterday to see what was left.

Al Minahan recalled standing next to his father years ago in Wakefield, watching helplessly as the family drug store burned down. ?When I heard about this, it brought back those memories,? Minahan said. ?We?d come here for celebrations. The thing about the Hooks is they treated royalty and street people the same.?

After the fire department finishes its investigation, Hook said, the family will demolish what?s left of the Atlantic Avenue business and rebuild on the same property.

?We?ll be back,? he said, ?and maybe with a few surprises.?

In addition to its wholesale-retail business, Hook said, the family may open a restaurant on the site, where a lobster weathervane still sat yesterday atop a red steeple.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino (http://www.bostonherald.com/search/?topic=Thomas+M.+Menino) and Sen. John Kerry (http://www.bostonherald.com/search/?topic=John+Kerry) (D-Mass.) have both called the family, promising to cut through any red tape so that they can could rebuild quickly.

Firefighters removed a gold leaf lobster an artist made that adorned the roof and presented it to Al Hook. Jimmy Hook was still in shock, saying, ?It?s so strange the way it burned. It?s all water in there, with the lobster tanks.?

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1097798

[statler]

ATF investigates site of James Hook blaze

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | June 1, 2008

Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives joined city investigators yesterday in the search for clues as to what sparked the early-morning blaze that destroyed James Hook & Co.

Stephen MacDonald, Boston Fire Department spokesman, said the ATF sent extra agents to aid in the city's investigation, which was expected to continue through the weekend. The cause of the fire remains undetermined, he said.

"They're trying to come up with a point of origin, then they can come up with how [the fire] started," MacDonald said yesterday.

Firefighters at a station two blocks away from the business learned of the blaze when 911 calls began coming in shortly after 3 a.m. Friday. They arrived to find flames leaping from the roof of the wooden lobster shack and warehouse. Cardboard boxes used to ship lobster helped fuel the fire, which ultimately caused the corrugated metal roof of the building to collapse.

Yesterday, demolition workers driving large mechanical claws helped investigators in hardhats uncover buried and still smoldering piles of debris. They photographed various parts of the building, and MacDonald said that as part of their protocol, they would interview firefighters who were first on the scene and review the business's insurance records. ATF officials did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

The investigation is proceeding slowly because damage to the building is so severe that it has to be deconstructed carefully, MacDonald said.

Fire Department officials estimated $5 million in damage to the landmark, a stalwart of the local fishing industry that remained on Atlantic Avenue even as pricey hotels and high-rises rose up around it. It also left more than 100 employees, many Hook family members, unemployed. Edward Hook II, one of the owners, said he will reopen on the site.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he called Hook shortly after learning of the fire and offered him relocation space in the city's maritime industrial park. Hook and his brothers plan to meet with city officials tomorrow to see it.

"I wanted to try to get them back in business as soon as we could," Menino said in a phone interview yesterday. "It's a very competitive business, and they're an icon in this city."

Started in 1925, the rustic wooden exterior of Hook's looked like as if it belonged in rural Maine and belied the business's reputation as one of the largest lobster distributors in the country. Hook, a third-generation owner, said yesterday that he did not know the value of the site, a key waterfront location on Atlantic Avenue coveted by developers.

When asked whether he had insurance coverage, Hook shook his head. "I don't know about any of that," he said. "Right now I'm just concerned with getting reorganized and trying to stay in business."

That is no small task. More than 60,000 pounds of live lobster died in the fire. Among them were 600 2-pound lobsters headed to a country club event in Maryland. "They went up in smoke," Hook said.

Many trucks delivering lobster from Canada turned back after learning about the fire, making it difficult for Hook to fill orders. When a load of about 10,000 pounds of lobster arrived Friday, Hook said, local seafood distributors offered him space for them.

Hook's wife, Julie, said the family lost many of its most cherished photos in the blaze, including images of their forebears who started the business.

"That's one of the hardest things my husband is dealing with," she said. "It's the memories he'll never get back. That's a huge loss. It's part of your life gone."

Minutes later, a firefighter emerged from the rubble with a 5-foot-long golden lobster that had adorned the business's rooftop weathervane. Hook family members cheered and applauded at the sight of it. Its body was dented and scraped, but family members posed happily for pictures with it.

Say what you will about Mumbles but that was a nice gesture.

[ablarc]

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he called Hook shortly after learning of the fire and offered him relocation space in the city's maritime industrial park. Hook and his brothers plan to meet with city officials tomorrow to see it.
Uh-oh, get ready for the fifteen-year parking lot where Hook used to be.

[castevens]

MSNBC.com thinks this fire was bigger than it really was. Apparently I live in the part of Boston not destroyed by the fire.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/castevens12/Untitled-1.jpg?t=1212285013

[BarbaricManchurian]

LOL, nice parsing mess-up. But like I said before, its all due to automization. Nothing has that "human touch" anymore to make all headlines perfect.

[tmac9wr]

MSNBC.com thinks this fire was bigger than it really was. Apparently I live in the part of Boston not destroyed by the fire.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/castevens12/Untitled-1.jpg?t=1212285013

That's hilarious

[stellarfun]

Excerpted from today's Herald.

...In a few weeks, the Hooks are hoping to have an office trailer on the site. One wooden portion of the building used for storage and tank filtration survived the fire, and the Hooks hope to set up tanks there and rebuild the retail part of their business within a few months. There?s a lot hanging over the Hooks head: learning the cause of the fire, dealing with salvage and teardown and insurance companies and, then, the whole process of getting permitted so Hook can rebuild on the site.

?We talked to Mayor Menino and Sen. Kerry, and they?re promising to help us cut through the red tape,? Al Hook says. ?As soon as they finish investigating, we?ll tear it down and start over. We?re hoping to make it a speedy rebuilding.?

The Hooks are already thinking about what their new building will look like.

?We want to have a cafe/seafood restaurant with windows that look out over the water,? Jimmy Hook said.

?The area?s grown up around us,? Eddie Hook says. ?We want to be more connected to the harbor.?

?Hook?s an icon, and it?ll be great if they can put some benches out there in a few months and start serving the tourists and the regulars - to make their lobster rolls again,? Nagle said. ?Then people will see that, while Hook?s a site of devastation now, it will regenerate itself like a forest after a fire.?


http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2008_06_02_With_a_little_help_from_their_friends:_ Fire-ravaged_Hook___Co__was_back_in_buisness_even_as_fi re_burned/srvc=home&position=5

[kz1000ps]

A sad sight. There was such an acrid smell in the air, too.

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/294/img9335ml0.jpg

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/6749/img9336fz8.jpg

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/9379/img9338pa9.jpg

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/8114/img9340pe9.jpg

[Boston02124]

this morning http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/xxxphoto378.jpg

[Cojapo]

I know I am speaking blasphemy, since this was an iconic business, but I always thought that this was an amazing location that horribly under utilized.

[pelhamhall]

I walked by yesterday - holy crap- THE SMELL!! It's so gross, it's liked baked rotting seafood mixed with burning oil. It's disgusting. I think they said 60,000 pounds of lobster was lost - well a lot of it must just be sitting under that rubble rotting. It's disgusting!

[Padre Mike]

I know I am speaking blasphemy, since this was an iconic business, but I always thought that this was an amazing location that was horribly under-utilized.

I agree Cojapo. I am hoping that whatever replaces it will jump-start the redevelopement/restoration of the old Northern Ave. Bridge and will "bump" out to the street with features to attract more pedestrian traffic.

[JimboJones]

Welcome to Boston -- now hold your nose! Stench from fire at lobster facility cloaks downtown (http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/06/02/daily65.html?f=et54&ana=e_du) - By Naomi R. Kooker Boston Business Journal

As the odor of rotting fish wafted by, Andy Kountz, a Cincinnati man in Boston for the weekend, was hoping the wind would shift. "Do I get the stench? How can you not?" he says, standing outside the InterContinental Boston with a friend who wrinkles her nose.

That stench is from decaying seafood, emanating from a block away where workers wearing respirators and protective rain gear continue to clean up what's left of the James Hook facility. James Hook & Company, a longtime family-owned lobster company, suffered a seven-alarm fire that razed the wood buildings and sent thousands of pounds of lobster, shellfish and fish into the Fort Point Channel a week ago Friday.

"Today it smells like it's right in the hotel lobby," said Dan Rodriguez, a stenographer for ASAP Sports Reporting in New York City, standing in the InterContinental lobby. "I was about to put on my bib and bring some lemon."

Many tourists and out-of-towners staying at the InterContinental or Boston Harbor Hotel, which flank the Hook site, assumed it was just the way Boston is. "If you're a first-time visitor of Boston and nobody says anything, you might wonder if this is what Boston smells like," says Stephen Carew, an international banker from Tampa, Fla. Neither hotel had made an effort to inform its guests the origins of the pungent P.U. -- until asked about the issue Friday by a reporter.

"We're going to get on that right now," said Timothy P. Kirwan, general manger of the InterContinental Hotel. The hotel decreased the amount of air it circulates from outside, did some sanitizing and added scent applications to the air in the hotel, he says.

"I thought this was the usual Boston smell," said Steve Skinner, an National Basketball Association cameraman from San Diego, who spoke outside the Boston Harbor Hotel. "Actually it doesn't bother me, it's the charm of the place."

G-J Towing Inc. is trying to temper that charm. On Monday the Revere, Mass., company, which is doing the demolition and removal of the debris, started using layers of chemicals and plastic bags in its dumpsters to combat the smell. "It would be 100 percent worse if we didn't," said project manager James Morando, standing outside the fenced-in demolition site. Temperatures are supposed to reach into the 90s this weekend, threatening an even stronger stench.

Alfred A. Hook, an owner of James Hook, said the company is trying to clean up the site as quickly as possible. "We hope to get it rapped up in a few days," he says. "We'll see."

The cause of the fire is still unknown as the investigation is ongoing, according to Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

None of the visitors said they'd leave the city because of the smells. "It is what it is," says Carew. "What am I going to do?"

[statler]

Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/dishing/2008/07/an_update_on_ja.html) - July 31, 2008
I spoke with the folks at James Hook & Co. The lobster company's landmark waterfront building was destroyed by fire at the end of May.

Co-owner/lobster slinger (his terminology) Eddie Hook had good news.

The company has been operating at 339 Northern Ave., the other end of the avenue from its old location, but a return to its original, and rightful, place is imminent. Hook reports things are moving ahead. The demolition of the old structure is finished; the site is clean and ready to be reoccupied. They're bringing in modular trailers, likely this weekend, and it looks as though retail business will return to the corner in the next couple of weeks. They plan to have the full line of seafood back on site.

Says Hook: "We're going to rebuild the lobster company, the store, and maybe some kind of eatery where people can stop, have a lobster product, and enjoy a place to sit down and get a good view of the harbor."

Wouldn't it be nice if the city/state sold Hook some land on the Greenway itself to open his restaurant?

[Boston02124]

today! http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/boston02124/xxxphoto447.jpg

[stellarfun]

Hook Lobster Co. announces it is in it for the long haul

Will reopen business, rebuild after fire

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | August 3, 2008

After a fire burned the storied and scruffy James Hook Lobster Co. building to the ground two months ago, there was little left except questions.

Would the owners fall prey to temptation to sell the property, situated in the heart of one of the city's toniest commercial districts? Would they rebuild? And if so, what?

Yesterday, the answers grew clear. Don your bibs, the Hook family plans to reopen for business within a week or two. Yesterday, the Hook family oversaw the delivery of two modular trailers at the site. And the family said they are hiring an architect and builder to erect a company headquarters there, one that owner Al Hook promised will be "very, very similar" to the edifice that burned.

"That's what people liked, that little fish shack," Hook said yesterday, standing on the excavated site. "We basically want to go back to the same thing."

The rough, Down East ambiance of the old building was renowned. The old wooden structure, painted a muddy brown and windowless, was partially bordered by a fence topped with razor wire. The walls of the interior, which smelled strongly of fish, were lined with old photos of Hook family members over the generations and other memorabilia, like an autographed image of Red Auerbach. A throwback to an era when Boston Harbor was a fishing hub, the business grew to become a beloved anomaly amid the Financial District's skyscrapers and gleaming hotels.

Hook said yesterday that he and his brothers got plenty of offers from developers for their prime waterfront land, but turned them down in favor of returning to the lobster business. The family started the company in the 1940s, turning it into one of the largest lobster distributors in the United States. The company brings Canadian lobsters to the city by the truckload, sending them off to restaurants, country clubs, and events around the world.

The retail portion of their business, selling lobster and lobster rolls to downtown lunch crowds, represented about 25 percent of the company's revenues, Hook said.

The business has been shuttered since May 30, when an early-morning fire raged out of control for several hours. More than 60,000 pounds of lobster living in tanks inside the building died; fire officials estimated more than $5 million in total losses. In the weeks to follow, city and federal officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ruled out arson as a cause. Unable to pinpoint exactly what started the blaze, fire officials said the cause was probably an electrical or mechanical malfunction.

Since then, the company has run its wholesale business out of the offices of two other nearby lobster distribution companies, P.J. Lobster Co. and John Nagel Co. in South Boston. Hook said longtime customers have tracked them down in search of fresh lobster and lobster roll lunches. He declined to say what the ingredients are in the Hook lobster roll, calling the recipe a secret.

"Our good, loyal customers are still hunting us down," Hook said. "They've found us."

The Hooks had promised the company would return, although they said they didn't know when or what shape the new business would take. Yesterday, two used modular trailers were delivered to the site, donated by Triumph modular buildings of Littleton. Hook family members said the trailers will be fitted with tanks that can hold about 1,200 pounds of lobster. They will also create a temporary outdoor seating space.

Al Hook said he hopes a permanent headquarters can be built on the site by October, in time for the Christmas lobster rush. He said he is trying to decide whether to repair the golden lobster weather vane that adorned the old building, one of the only artifacts that was not destroyed. Salvaged by firefighters, it was dented and chipped, but Hook said he views it as a symbol of survival.

Jimmy Hook, his brother, said he would like the new building to have a few more windows.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/03/hook_lobster_co_announces_it_is_in_it_for_the_long _haul/

[kz1000ps]

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1706/img7940bk4.jpg

[statler]

Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/20/lobster_companys_prime_site_on_waterfront_put_up_f or_sale/) - March 20, 2009
Lobster company's prime site on waterfront put up for sale

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009

One of the city's prime waterfront tracts, home for decades to one of the nation's oldest lobster businesses, is up for sale.

Jimmy Hook, one of four brothers who own James Hook & Co., said the family plans to sell its downtown property after a fire nearly destroyed the business last May.

"I'd like to utilize the property better and get what it's worth," Hook said inside the shop yesterday, leaning on a lobster tank. "It's a beautiful spot.

It is undecided whether the Hook brothers' lobster business, a fixture on Atlantic Avenue since 1925, will remain on the site. Hook said he and his brothers are considering all their options.

"We'd like to keep the business here, but you never know," Hook said.

The Hook lobster company is a vestige of another era downtown, harkening back to the days when Boston's waterfront had more fishing boats than luxury condos. The family business thrived even as towering office buildings and luxury hotels sprouted around it. Even though the Hook company does a massive international business and keeps more than 300,000 pounds of lobster a year on hand for sale, the Hooks said they wanted to maintain a homespun feel, selling lobster rolls to lunch crowds and inviting customers to eat them at picnic tables outside.

Those days may be drawing to a close. Ten developers have submitted proposals for construction projects at the site, according to the family's real estate broker, Sandy Tierney of McCall & Almy.

Hook family members and Tierney declined to disclose the names of interested developers or the asking price for the property.

The assessed value of the land, according to city records, is $1.77 million.

Tierney said the Hook brothers will probably select one proposal within a month.

"The Hooks are committed to retaining a presence there," Tierney said. "They may have to temporarily move away during construction, but their goal is to remain on this site and to have it continue to be identified as the site of the James Hook lobster company. They've been here a long time, and they'd like to stay."

Al and Jimmy Hook said the family had no desire to sell the land until last year, when a massive early-morning fire ravaged the business, destroying more than 60,000 pounds of live lobster and the buildings that housed them.

When the fire was brought under control, what remained of the business's distinctive tin-topped building was charred and singed and had to be razed. About a month later, city fire officials, with assistance from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, said the cause of the blaze was probably electrical, although an exact determination could not be made.

The brothers said at the time they wanted to rebuild. But after the fire, Tierney said, they were besieged with offers for their land.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority helped the company set up in offices in the nearby Marine Industrial Park. Eventually the brothers reopened their retail business in two trailers they had moved onto the Atlantic Avenue site.

The setup has not changed. The trailers sit in the shadow of the towering 1 International Place skyscraper.

Hook's next-door neighbor to the west is Independence Wharf, a 14-story luxury office building. And the gleaming glass Intercontinental Hotel, 21-stories, including seven floors of luxury condos, sits nearby.

Kairos Shen the BRA's chief of planning, said zoning laws drafted when the expressway stood there prohibit construction more than 55 feet high at the Hook location, although those rules can be appealed by property owners. In an interview yesterday, Shen called the Hook site "a very, very special location." A review board working with the BRA has hired several private consultants to undertake a study of Greenway zoning that will include creating new rules for development at the Hook site.

Citing the parcel's proximity to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Shen said that the BRA does not want to see towering buildings block the sun from the park and that the city will not allow the park to be compromised by "private development interests."

"It's a critical asset the city needs to cherish," Shen said.

It was a thought echoed by customers yesterday.

Maureen Daly, who works at a nearby Verizon office, went to Hook's to pick up two lobsters to bring to friends in Florida this morning. She said she would be crushed if the Hooks moved.

"I want them to stay," she said. "It's the best lobster in all of Boston. It's the freshest and the sweetest tasting."

Co-worker Ellen Paress said she wanted to see the Hooks rebuild a restaurant at the site, something similar to the casual shack they lost.

"When you get too big," she said, "you lose some of that family feel."

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.

[pelhamhall]

Scenario #1) The Hook family puts up their land for sale, announcing they are moving their iconic business and cashing in for a skyscraper. The announcement is met with outrage and disgust. Neighbors call for a new operator to keep the building exactly as-is.

Scenario #2) The Hook lobster building burns down (cause still undetermined) and now, sadly, the Hook family puts up their land for sale, announcing they are moving their iconic business and cashing in for a skyscraper. Neighbors respond by waxing nostalgic about the lost building with a shrug.

I will not libel anybody and claim to know anything about things that I do not know anything about, but scenario two is far more desirable than scenario one for the current and future owners of that land.

Assessed at $1.77M???? The fix has been in on this site for a long, long time. If Chiafaro owned that plot of land it would be assessed for triple that.

[pelhamhall]

BTW - I absolutely and completely believe the fire was an accident. I'm just saying the scenario worked out very well for everyone involved in the transaction.

[tmac9wr]

I can't believe they're saying the value of the land is $1.77m....I would think it would be like $10m

[Ron Newman]

If the current zoning sets a 55-foot height limit, that would limit the parcel's value.

[statler]

^^ Good point, Ron. And given:

Citing the parcel's proximity to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Shen said that the BRA does not want to see towering buildings block the sun from the park and that the city will not allow the park to be compromised by "private development interests."

"It's a critical asset the city needs to cherish," Shen said.

it will be a dog fight to get that lifted.

[johnpaul5]

Yea, but aren't other buildings such as the Russia Wharf, Intercontinental, and the Harbor Towers all in the same category (abutting the water) and therefore making BRA's comments contradictory?

[statler]

You see, the Big Dig has been a very well kept secret for the past two decades. The BRA had no idea there was going to be a park in this area someday.

But now that it is there, it must be protected at all costs.

[Ron Newman]

If the city's interest was to keep this historic business on the waterfront, and discourage developers from buying it to tear it down, the 55-foot limit was a good way to do that. I see nothing to object to here.

[statler]

You don't object to keeping or lifting the 55' limit?

[Ron Newman]

I'd rather keep it if that makes it more likely that Hook will remain at this location in some form.

[statler]

Why would the height of the building dictate whether or not Hook remains?

It would fit on the ground floor of a 5 story building as well as it would in a 50 story one.

I would understand if the original Hook building was still there, but now they are starting from scratch so they can incorporate anything.

[johnpaul5]

Obviously the 55ft limit is a joke and would need to be modified. No sane developer would build anything 4 stories high righ in the middle of the financial district! It's just not economically feasible.

[Ron Newman]

This really isn't "in the middle of the financial district". It's at the water's edge.

[statler]

Boston Herald - March 23, 2009
Two builders take Hub bait
Eye Hook property
By Thomas Grillo | Monday, March 23, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets
Photo
Photo by Mike Adaskaveg (file)

Two Boston developers have expressed interest in buying the property owned by James Hook & Co., the burned-out landmark lobster business on the city?s waterfront.

Lincoln Property Co., the Dallas company that has Two Financial Center under construction at South Station, and the Chiofaro Co., the Boston owner of International Place, confirmed they have requested information about the sale from McCall & Almy, the commercial brokerage handling the deal.

The Boston Business Journal first reported last week that Hook was for sale and that 10 developers were interested in buying the 10,000-square-foot site.

The Atlantic Avenue business was destroyed by fire last year. But the Boston Redevelopment Authority quickly moved to help the 84-year-old firm settle in a new location in the city?s Marine Industrial Park.

The Hook family is considering closing the store or possibly working out a deal with the new owners to remain, because the site could support an office building with ground-floor retail.

Theodore A. Oatis, co-founder of Chiofaro Co., said his firm has their hands full with a proposal to transform the Boston Harbor Garage into a $900 million mixed-use development including 860,000 square feet of office space, a hotel, 100 condominiums and a grocery store.

But the company wanted to at least examine the possibilities of the Hook location for another building, he said.

John Cappellano, senior vice president at Lincoln, whose office project on Summer Street is stalled due to a lawsuit (see related story this page), said they are interested in the site.

?We are considering our options,? he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1160395

[stellarfun]

A good portion of the original Hook buildings sat on pilings. Water from the tanks would drip directly into the harbor. Questionable these days whether you could fill this area in; in any event, I don't think Hook owns the tidal flat. Smallish site = smallish height.

[ablarc]

^ Yeah, that isn't really land.

[PaulC]

James Hook relocates to Union Park, South End.

We'll actually it's just the gold lobster. It's on the front of Joe V's. A pilot is being filmed here and the restaurant has been changed to The Boston Lobster House. I think the name of the series is 'Run, Katie, Run'.

[kennedy]

55' is a bit ridiculous. 200' is much more reasonable, and probably still shorter than the neighbors. If anything gets built here, I just beg it not be glassy and modern (or precast).

[Beton Brut]

How about a 450' sliver-building, and a re-constituted Hook on the pier?

[ablarc]

^ Nice concept.

[Beton Brut]

A smart designer may incorporate a "nautical gesture," like running the ground-plane of the pier up the tower's facade, as horizontal elements, to form a bris soleil. The spot is worthy of something iconic.

[kz1000ps]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4317875907_a1187a8903_b.jpg

What a sight

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4318621348_1c40fa8940_b.jpg

[tobyjug]

Is that last photo a BRA mock-up of what will be allowed under the new Greenway height rules?

[itchy]

Good call, Toby. It'd be perfect for some of Boston's favorite homegrown retail businesses to sprout like fungi up and down the Rose Kennedy Lawn: Dunkin' Donuts, CVS, BoLoco or (think outside the box here, and imagine that little trailer spread out over a football field-size area) Staples.

[*Impressed sigh*] Man, with those BRA Einsteins you can never figure out which is more impressive: their knowledge of architecture/city planning, or their knowledge of economics.