CORRECTION APPENDED

After a seven-year void, a grocery store is finally coming to the Square.

Market in the Square plans to open in February after a year and a half search by the University—and an explicit mandate by former President Lawrence H. Summers—to find a grocer for the Square, according to James W. Gray, the associate vice president of Harvard Real Estate Services, the University’s real estate arm.

The new market will be located at the corner of Brattle and Church streets, the former location of a Sprint PCS retail store and the previous home of Sage’s, the Square’s last grocery store that operated in the location for decades.

In an effort to secure the space for a grocery store, Harvard Real Estate Services has rented the space for the last year and a half—without subletting to any tenants—while searching for a grocer to occupy the space, at an estimated cost of several million dollars to the University. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

“It is the number one thing that’s identified as lacking in the Harvard Square retail environment,” Gray said. “There’s no where to grab your cereal or your eggs and bacon.”

After a prolonged search, Harvard Real Estate Services and Gray settled on Peter Whang, a 1996 Tufts graduate who has successfully run two New Haven grocery stores, one downtown and one on the Yale campus.

Whang, whose parents operated a large grocery store on Long Island and a small chain of bodegas in Manhattan, cut his teeth in the business working for a dollar a day as a boy.

“It’s kind of in my blood,” he said.

Whang, who has sold his stores in New Haven and is preparing to move to Cambridge, said that Harvard’s enthusiastic pursuit has him excited to open shop.

“My relationship with Harvard has been incredible,” he said. “They’ve been such a help in the whole process.”

According to Whang, Market in the Square will be somewhat of a hybrid between Darwin’s Ltd, Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe, and 7-11. The store, which Whang hopes to operate 24 hours a day, will serve deli sandwiches with a seating area, like Darwin’s; high-end grocery items, like Cardulo’s; and convenience items, like 7-11. Whang will also have a produce section, a salad bar, and a large prepared-food buffet section, similar to Whole Foods, he said.

“You’ll have to pay a little more of a premium because I’m not a supermarket,” he said.

Denise Jillson, the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said that while a lack of parking in the Square poses a challenge to a potential grocer, the new market fills a void in the neighborhood.

“In many ways, Harvard Square is a village, and the village needs a grocer,” she said.

While Harvard does seek out independent stores for the properties it owns, the University has not and does not plan to lease a property to bring in an independent business, as it has in this case, again.

Gray called the University’s methods in this case a “surgical intervention” that will likely not be repeated. Jillson, however, noted that by setting such a strong example of promoting independent business, the University may encourage other landlords in the Square to also seek out local and independent business.

Whang said that because of the effort the University has put into bringing in a grocery store, he feels pressure to succeed. But high expectations are not new for the New York native.

“I’m a Yankee fan, I know what it’s like,” he said.

Whang will have help operating the store. His best friend will be his general manager and the rest of his staff is handpicked from his stores in New Haven and his parents’ stores in New York.

Brynn A. Bowman ’08, who lives off campus, said she’s excited about the opening of a grocery store.

“Now I won’t have to buy mac and cheese from CVS when I’m strapped for groceries,” she wrote in an e-mail.

While he won’t be trading in pinstripes for red socks anytime soon, Whang said he’s already become a Harvard Crimson fan.

“I used to root for Yale, but now I have to put my allegiances to Harvard,” he said.

—Staff writer Gabriel J. Daly can be reached at gdaly@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The Nov. 20 article "Grocer Coming to Square" incorrectly stated that it cost Harvard University several million dollars to rent space at the corner of Brattle Street and Church Street for the last year and a half while it searched for a grocer to fill the space. In fact, the cost was estimated at several hundred thousand dollars.