For Great Scott, the search for a new venue continues, more than two years after vacating its longtime home at 1222 Commonwealth Ave.
Last month it was reported by UniversalHub that the shuttered rock club would not be moving into the old Regina Pizzeria space, despite Great Scott signing a letter-of-intent in September 2020 to re-open the venue up Harvard Avenue to new digs on the corner of Cambridge Street. On Monday evening (June 20), Great Scott booking agent Carl Lavin gave an update on the search for a new venue via an “Investor Exclusive” email to those who donated to the club’s Mainvest campaign, which according to the site has raised nearly $350,000 to re-launch the rock club.
“As many of you are already aware, the landlords at the Allston Depot — formerly Regina’s Pizza – decided to go in a different direction, one that didn’t require a complete overhaul of the interior and with a more proven track record operating a restaurant,” Lavin writes. “It was disappointing, but completely understandable. They were more than patient while I navigated the process of securing the necessary additional funding and I have absolutely no ill will with them or the future tenant. It was just a tough time in the world to try to start a project as ambitious as this proved to be while also learning how to do it as I went along.”
But Lavin says Allston Depot was just one of the potential options for a new Great Scott, and he is currently “engaged with other locations.” While the group behind re-opening Great Scott has a new potential space in mind, this new process is being done behind closed doors after the efforts to relocate to Allston Depot played out in public and in the press.
“Conversations with one location in particular in Allston has progressed well,” Lavin adds. “Among the things I learned during the Depot experience is that broadcasting stages of negotiations in situations like this isn’t really typical and not greatly desired on their end of things. So the details and the location will remain under wraps, but I can say this: It’s a great location, it’s bigger than GS requires and we’re working on our options as to what we can do with the extra space.”
And with that, we can expect more updates in the future. Lavin recently spoke on a panel about the importance for live music spaces at the Bellforge Arts Center’s launch event in Medfield, but a new home for Great Scott, nor an update on the Mainvest campaign, did not come up in the discussion.
“I’m looking forward to being able to give more regular and more detailed updates for sure,” Lavin concludes. “I remain extremely grateful for the investments in local music and arts and appreciate greatly all the patience as we continue to plow ahead. Thank you.”