The Boston Flower Exchange has officially secured a lease on Second Street and will relocate this month to Chelsea, where it will operate as the New England Flower Exchange.
For decades, the Exchange operated in the South End adjacent to the Expressway after being sold by the City of Boston during the Urban Renewal period to serve as a regional market. The hot real estate market presented an opportunity for the Exchange to sell its property. The Abbey Group of Boston was identified as the buyer last summer and received City approval. With the calendar year ending, the Exchange needed to vacate, creating a void in the wholesale flower sector that Chelsea is now positioned to fill.
According to City Manager Tom Ambrosino, the Exchange has signed approximately a 15-year lease with property owner Tony Cassano. The new location will be at 260 Second St., the former headquarters of Kettle Cuisine soup company, situated near the New England Produce Market. Kettle Cuisine relocated to Lynn roughly three years prior.
“He alerted me six months ago that it might be a possibility,” Ambrosino noted. “The City was happy for him to get what seems like a good tenant. It fills a vacant building. That’s an important benefit to this. We don’t like to see large industrial buildings vacant, so we always want to see those buildings leased.”
The Exchange confirmed its plans on its website last month, announcing a January opening in Chelsea.
“We’re still selling flowers after all these years and will be for a whole lot more,” the site stated. “Recently the Boston Flower Exchange, Inc. was acquired by a Boston real estate development company with plans to develop the current flower market property at a future date… A vast majority of wholesalers of the Boston Flower Exchange, Inc., are committed to perpetuating the flower market tradition in the greater Boston area with the seamless transition to a new facility – the New England Flower Market, located in Chelsea. The new location will be one stop shopping, the way that it has always been. Better selection; more convenience and businesses that you know and trust. Just remember when one door closes another will open. See you in Chelsea.”
The Exchange operates a website at www.newenglandflowermarket.com, though it is not yet operational.
With 13 wholesale vendors listed as members, it remains unclear which vendors will relocate to the Chelsea facility.
The Exchange functions as a wholesale operation rather than retail, requiring customers to hold a Florists license and certification to make purchases—similar to the Produce Center model.
For this reason, Ambrosino noted that the Exchange represents a strong complement to Second Street’s existing wholesale fruit and food distribution center serving all of New England.