New York’s Union Square Hospitality Group Is Coming to Boston’s Seaport District

A rendering of the Commonwealth Pier development in Boston’s Seaport District, where two Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants will open in 2025. (Any signage in the rendering is a placeholder, not an indication of a planned business.) / Courtesy image

New York’s acclaimed Union Square Hospitality Group, from notable hospitality maven Danny Meyer, is bringing two restaurants to Boston next year, reports the Globe. They’ll come from USHG’s existing lineup of concepts (Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe, Maialino, etc.)—the group isn’t announcing which ones yet—and will debut at Commonwealth Pier, a planned mixed-use development in the Seaport.

Yes, another out-of-town restaurant group coming to the Seaport—it’s a frequent occurrence. Sure, we’d all love to see more restaurants from local operators in the neighborhood, like recently opened stunners Grace by Nia and Hook & Line. But if an out-of-towner is going to swoop in and take up two glitzy pieces of real estate, we can be excited that it’s a group like USHG, which has almost 40 years of experience—and solid reputation—under its belt. (And it helps that USHG CEO Chip Wade worked in the neighborhood, albeit two decades ago, as Legal Sea Foods’ COO, per the Globe.) A Boston restaurant operator will reportedly take on at least one other space at the same development, too.

The early details on the mystery USHG venues: One restaurant will likely be one of the group’s more casual spots, while the other will be more “culinary forward and creative,” as Wade told the Globe. The group’s portfolio includes everything from refined American to Italian to barbecue to tacos to all-day neighborhood fare, so it’s hard to predict which two will make the cut. Boston already has an overabundance of excellent Italian restaurants, including many that land on our annual Best Restaurants list, so our vote would be for two of the non-Italian spots for the sake of variety.

Daily Provisions, which has five locations around New York, seems like a logical—and easily scalable—pick for the more casual of the duo. With a tagline of “your neighborhood kitchen” and all-day operation, it’d fit into the increasingly busy Seaport landscape with breakfast sandwiches, sandwiches, salads, pastries, and the like. (And we wouldn’t say no to one of these crullers.)

While USHG will be new to Boston, it’s not Meyer’s first expansion here. He also founded Shake Shack, the now-international chain of fast-casual burger joints, which has over a dozen Massachusetts locations. The company’s 100^th outpost opened in Boston’s Seaport in 2016. Back then, Boston expansion wasn’t in the cards for Meyer’s USHG restaurants. “We’ve been pretty conservative about keeping our fine dining restaurants in New York City,” he said at the time. That’s mostly remained true since then, aside from a couple short-lived D.C. spots and Union Square Tokyo, going strong since 2007. But these days, the Seaport’s explosive growth seems increasingly attractive to outsiders, so maybe it’s no surprise that USHG is now ready to test the waters here.

200 Seaport Blvd. (Commonwealth Pier), Seaport District, Boston, ushg.com.