Salem Gazette RCG has brought in Rouge Cosmetics, the maternity and baby store Chulamama, and, just recently, the clothing store Sacred Gear, which targets hip, young professionals.

Even the food offerings are going more upscale with the likes of A&J King Artisan Bakers and Upper Crust Pizza — both in RCG buildings.

"The trade area is much larger than just Salem," said Matt Picarsic, a principal at RCG. "And while it's important that the retail in Salem caters to the local residents, it's also important we create a regional product offering."

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Salem Gazette The Art Corner, a 30-year veteran business in Salem, reopened Monday. The shop on Mill Hill was destroyed by fire on the night of April 24.

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The Art Corner will hold a grand reopening on Saturday, June 14, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at a new location at 231 Washington St.

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Salem News

Gulu-Gulu Café was named New Business of the Year. Steven Feldmann, who opened his first Gulu-Gulu in Lynn, opened the Salem coffeehouse and restaurant a year ago. In addition to serving food, Gulu-Gulu shows films and cartoons and took part in this year's inaugural Salem Film Festival.

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Another relatively new business, A&J King Artisan Bakers, won the award for Excellence in Retail.

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Boston. com

The action is in the streets and simple scenes of Asheville, N.C., a mountain outpost near the western end of of the state.

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Stop by Malaprops, the bookstore-cafe and center of alternative culture that has taken root with the decade-long influx of young and old from points north and south to this hilly terrain long home to banjos and Baptists.

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Boston Globe

Gulu-Gulu Café (247 Essex St., 978-740-8882, gulu-gulu.com, entrees $5-$8) hosts live music and uses its dining room as a gallery for works by local artists.

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A cutesy cafe, New Civilitea (318 Derby St., 978-740-2832, newcivilitea.com) doubles as a tea shop selling hot and iced teas, herbal coffees, and tea-themed gifts like teapots.

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Boston Globe

The latest Gulu-Gulu takes the spot of what was once the Phoenix School. You'll find it next to the new Upper Crust and just behind the Bewitched statue.

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It's a place where you can get a hearty meal or a coffee with a friend. Aside from its Eastern European-inspired list of sandwiches, crepes, and appetizers, Gulu also has an impressive list of drinks.

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Salem News

The heavy claw of a yellow excavator shredded the old Salem Evening News building yesterday to make way for downtown condominiums, apartments and shops. Small crowds of curious onlookers gathered throughout the day to watch walls crumble, windows shatter to the pavement and clouds of dust float up from the rubble.

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Somerville-based developer RCG, which bought the site in the summer for $2.4 million, plans to build 31 residences and finish construction in 2009. Finally, there are signs of new life at the blighted building at perhaps the city's busiest intersection. Downtown planners are hoping the site will soon do just what it did yesterday at lunchtime - attract people's attention.

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Lawrence Eagle Tribune

The new owners of East Mill are adding parking on High Street in hopes the area will become a destination point. RCG LLC is renovating the 235,000-square-foot former Davis and Furber mill complex at the corner of High and Water streets and putting in shops, restaurants and condominiums, in addition to businesses that are already there.

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Parking in the area is concentrated in lots and a garage behind the buildings, but building owner David Steinbergh said short-term street parking and re-marked crosswalks will make it easier for people to park for an hour to shop or have lunch.

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Salem Gazette

Now the walkway in Artists Row has been patched by the city. New signage marks the public restroom and orange and yellow chrysanthemums brighten up brick lined flowerbeds between the shops. At night, new bulbs in the streetlights chase away the shadows.

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The mayor formed the city's Beautification Committee, made up of 11 volunteers, 11 months ago with to revitalize neglected areas of the city. In June Sharon Shea, an artist exhibiting at Baobab, approached the committee and asked if they could focus their attention on Artists Row. The area was assessed, and RCG - a real estate firm that owns a number of downtown properties - agreed to sponsor the project.

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Salem Gazette

A similar trend is in the works in the Derby Lofts, where the existing New Civilitea teashop abuts Chula Mama/Hip Baby Gear and the spot Rouge will occupy early in September.

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The draw of Salem was also local foot traffic, a strong market for the product, access from the highway she couldn’t get on the peninsula of Marblehead and Swampscott, and a good retail space. “We just fell in love with the Derby Lofts, Salem space,” she says, noting the high ceilings and exposed pipes.

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Boston Herald

For instance, Somerville's RCG Properties recently combined a one-time laundry building with new construction to create the 54-unit Derby Lofts. The firm is also converting two other downtown buildings into 15 condos, and just announced plans to turn the former Salem Evening News complex into 25 to 35 additional units.

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We're very committed to Salem and see this area really becoming a destination place," RCG chief Matt Picarsic said."Our projects are attracting both professionals and empty-nesters from all over the Boston area."

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Boston Herald

Salem isn't just for witches any more. Shops and restaurants attracted by the town's influx of young professionals and empty-nesters are changing Downtown Salem's retail landscape.

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"Downtown Salem is vibrant and cool and already alive," said Gulu-Gulu owner Steve Feldman. "We've come here to join the party."

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Lawrence Eagle Tribune

The owner, David Steinbergh of RCG LLC, said giving futures to classic brick mill buildings doesn't mean they have to lose their history. "Our intention was always to preserve the buildings," Steinbergh said. "We appreciate the site's history."

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Steinbergh said his company is drawn to renovating existing buildings, especially mill buildings like the ones in town. "As developers, we have the sentiment for it," he said. "I like the open concept, high ceilings, exposed ceilings and brick."

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New England Real Estate Journal

“We have a unique combination of the best view of Boston from across the harbor, quality construction, parking for your car and your boat, and prices that are not what one would expect. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase a waterfront home at incredible prices.”

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Each unit has a balcony with views of the water and downtown. With a 91-slip marina, residents can have their own boat slip at their back door.

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Boston Globe

By Gail Ravgiala

With their simple shapes and three- and four-story heights, the two modernist, dark gray buildings on the East Second Street end create a low-key link between the residential and industrial zones. The buildings also embrace green design and have state-of-the-art amenities.

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Thomas was working for the developers of the E. Second complex, RCG LLC of Somerville, when the plan was initiated, and had a hand in bringing this project to fruition.

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Boston Globe

By Ron DePasquale

RCG converted an old fire station into Ladder 3 Lofts at 88 Franklin St. While it took more than a year to move all 15 Ladder 3 units, a buyer is already reselling a condo for more than the original sale price.

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And at the Boston Machine Lofts, which RCG also developed, owners "have seen their values rise and hold, even as the market slowed," said Matt Picarsic , an RCG principal.

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Boston Herald

By Paul Restuccia

"Today, Winthrop retains the feel of a small New England coastal community, even though it’s just five miles from downtown Boston."

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The new 44-unit Atlantis Marina condo complex - Winthrop’s first large development in a quarter century - is already half sold out. Atlantis developer John Schwagerl bought a Winthrop waterfront house himself four years ago, and says he wouldn’t live anywhere else.

“Winthrop is a throwback: a place where everybody knows everybody,” said Schwagerl, whose company is already planning a second Winthrop condo complex.

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Boston Herald

By Paul Restuccia

"Winthrop’s newly built Atlantis Marina condo complex offers waterfront units with Hub skyline views for just $436 a square foot - roughly half of what you’d pay in Boston proper.

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the unit’s open dining/living room features coffered ceilings and hardwood floors. The 14-by-12-foot dining area has maple flooring and a contemporary overhead light fixture for use above a dining-room table.

The adjacent 14-by-14-foot living-room space offers an overhead fan/light fixture and three seven-foot windows with panoramic views of Boston Harbor and the city skyline."

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Salem News

[After converting the Salem Laundry into Derby Lofts,] RCG then crossed the street to buy the former Dracula's Castle at 90 Lafayette St., where it wants to erect another six-story building with 30 condos. That project went before the city's Planning Board last week.

Over the past few months, RCG signed purchase-and-sale agreements for two more properties in the downtown, Delande Lighting and the former Salem News plant. On Thursday, the Somerville real estate developer unveiled an ambitious, $80 million plan to build 160 to 180 condos and 500 underground parking spaces on the old Salem News block.

"We'll be in Salem as long as we're wanted," said Steinbergh, one of the founders of RCG.

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