Pavement Coffeehouse, a local chain of coffee shops in the greater Boston area, will open a new location within the Joyce Cummings Center this fall, replacing a Starbucks that closed last fall.
Pavement is tentatively planning to open in November after signing a 10-year lease. The opening comes more than a year after Starbucks shuttered all pickup-only sites, including its JCC location.
The search for a replacement began when Tufts University hired a commercial brokerage firm to list the vacated space shortly after Starbucks terminated its lease, according to Karen Cutone, Tufts’ senior director of real estate.
“The search process focused on finding a coffee-based retailer that could use the space largely as currently configured and possibly expand on Starbucks’ food offerings,” Cutone wrote in a statement to the Daily. “There were expressions of interest from several New England coffee/bagel/light food operators.”
Cutone added that Pavement Coffeehouse was selected for a variety of reasons and gelled with the university’s ethos.
“After reviewing all of the proposals, it was determined that Pavement offered the optimal terms, brand vision, offerings, compatibility with a campus setting, proven ability to execute, and financials,” she wrote.
Pavement will join Tufts Dining-operated cafés Hotung, Kindlevan, Mugar and Tower, as well as the student-run café The Sink, as the sixth café on the Medford/Somerville campus.
Tufts community members and local residents may be able to try Pavement’s offerings earlier in the semester through a coffee cart in the JCC lobby, according to Cutone, though no decision has been made.
Pavement owns nine locations in the Boston area, including at Boston University, Lesley University and Harvard University’s campus center. Its first café was opened near the Berklee College of Music in 2009.
Job listings for the new location are not currently listed on Pavement’s website.
