Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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PhotograPhy by Joel benJamin House of tHe Rising son Stephen Karp haS revitalized retail and hotel propertieS acroSS the country. now hiS Son, Douglass arp, iS expanding the empire even further. by michael blanding Going to the mall wasn't the same for Douglass Karp as it was for most kids. In 1972, his father, Stephen Karp, opened one of the first enclosed shopping malls in the Northeast; he would go on to develop dozens of malls and other shopping complexes around the country. "When we would go on vacation, we had to see what mall was built in the area," says the younger Karp. "What I didn't realize was that he was teaching me at a pretty early age about foot traffic patterns and where the anchors and the food court should be." All that knowledge has come in handy, as Karp recently took over management of the family business. Now president of New England Development, he is sitting in a booth at Panera Bread at Chestnut Hill Square, a 340,000 -square- foot mixed-use development that his company recently built, rejuvenating a once-moribund area. It's one of nearly 100 properties that New England Development has successfully con- structed and managed in the past 35 years. Even more impressive, the company has earned a reputation for consensus building—something With his first company, Lids, Douglass Karp outfitted a generation, but at New England Development he's changing the landscape on a much grander scale. continued on page 60 bostoncommon-magazine.com 59 PEOPLE View from the Top