Boston, MA––May 14, 2007— Shawmut Design and Construction, a $700 million national construction management firm, recently completed construction of the first U.S. location for the international noodle restaurant wagamama in Boston’s Faneuil Hall.
The 4,600 square foot restaurant has an open design and includes a main dining room with communal-style seating for 133, a patio area with outdoor seating for 50, and an open display kitchen. The restaurant’s underground level contains kitchen support areas, office space, and a smaller dining room that doubles as a private event room.
While the space’s glass storefront, roof, and sidewall structure provide diners with views of Faneuil Hall and its visitors, the transparency presented the project team with logistical challenges during the restaurant’s construction. To protect and shield the public from the ongoing construction, as well as create much needed swing space, Shawmut erected an exterior barricade that also branded the noodle restaurant and garnered excitement from passing shoppers.
One of the more complex aspects of the build was the construction of the open kitchen. The previous restaurant’s layout had placed the kitchen on the underground level, meaning the team had to rework the mechanicals to bring the wagamama kitchen to the main floor. Also, in lieu of simply coordinating owner-supplied vendors, Shawmut selected and procured all of the restaurant’s stainless steel kitchen equipment. This high level of involvement extended to the furniture itself, as Shawmut also obtained all of the dining areas’ custom tables and benches.
This marks the first venture for wagamama into the U.S. market. The company owns 75 restaurants in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Holland, Dubai, Belgium, Denmark, Turkey, and New Zealand.
“We are very excited about our launch in the United States,” said wagamama CEO Steve Hill, “Boston is a wonderful, energetic city – one of the great gateways to the United States from Europe. We’ve been working toward our United States debut for two years.”
wagamama is currently working with Shawmut and architect Gensler on a 132-seat location in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, which is set to open in Summer 2007. For further information visit www.wagamama.us.
Shawmut has long been active in the New England and national restaurant markets, building widely-recognized restaurants such as Boston’s Avila and Davio’s, New York City’s Nobu 57 and Geoffrey Zakarian’s Country, as well as national concept restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, Legal Sea Foods, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and McCormick & Schmick’s.
