A host of new venues are opening next to the stadium, with meeting spaces and entertaining options throughout. Here's a look at six to try.
1. Scoring box seats to a Patriots game for a group may be a tough assignment, but you can still revel in Pats fever at Patriot Place, a new $350 million development adjacent to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, 30 minutes from downtown Boston. With theaters, restaurants, bars, a hotel, a movie theater, and the Patriots Hall of Fame, the complex offers an array of meeting venues. Construction began on the 1.3-million-square-foot complex in 2006; it opened in November 2007 and will be complete by the end of 2009.
2. Patriot Place’s largest entertainment venue, the 16,000-square-foot Showcase Live opened in August 2008. The 530-seat space features a 28-foot-long stage surrounded by plush dining banquettes that can be booked for group dinners during performances. (Chaka Khan, Boyz II Men, and Savion Glover performed in 2008.) The theater is also available for private events, and includes three wall-size digital projection screens behind the stage. The seats and tables can be cleared out to allow 1,000 for a standing event.
3. Joining Showcase Live as one of the complex’s early tenants, the 15,000-square-foot CBS Scene opened in September 2008. CBS radio and television affiliates broadcast live from the three-story restaurant, which includes 130 flat-screen televisions and offers special CBS-themed functions for events (think a Survivor party). The ground-floor function space holds 125; the second-floor dining room holds 165 and has outdoor terraces overlooking the stadium; and the third-floor bar holds 160.
4. Sports isn’t the only enthusiasm represented at Patriot Place. Wine-themed artwork, colorful fabrics, and handcrafted tabletops set the mood at Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro, which offers more than 2,000 bottles along with specialty dishes like local rack of lamb with honey-foamed aioli. The restaurant, which opened in September, seats 75, with space for an additional 30 on the patio and 12 in the semiprivate wine room.
5. Davio’s, a Northern Italian steak house with locations in Boston and Philadelphia opened a third at Patriot Place in August 2008. The main dining room holds 350, while a 120-seat private room can be broken down into three smaller rooms. The entire restaurant holds 500 for events.
6. The last piece of the complex to fall into place will be the 150-room Marriott Renaissance Hotel and Spa at Patriot Place, which will be the first four-star hotel in the south Boston suburbs when it opens in mid-2009.
This information was previously published in the 2009 BizBash National Venue Guide.
