Boston, MA – May 14, 2007 – Shawmut Design and Construction recently completed construction of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in the southwest corner of Boston’s Prudential Center.
The 8,500 square foot Chinese restaurant spans two levels and includes a bar area, outdoor patio seating, and a large dining room. The restaurant features both a street-level entrance, complete with two of P.F. Chang’s signature horse sculptures, and an interior mall entrance on the second floor.
The 240-seat dining area includes a hand-painted mural, pendant lighting, wood ceilings, slate and stone walls, a wine display case, Asian artifacts, and a dumbwaiter. The second floor dining room is connected to the first floor bar by a newly installed elevator, the pit of which is suspended over a parking garage below, and a stairway that angles around the elevator shaft.
The project’s location within an occupied mall presented the team with a challenging build. The size of the custom kitchen equipment required it to be boomed through an opening created in an exterior building wall. Also, the kitchen’s second floor location mandated extensive waterproofing to protect the bar area below. In addition, the roof units had to be boomed onto the roof of an existing penthouse above the space. Despite these challenges, and the limitations presented by winter weather, the project team was able to utilize extended weekday and weekend schedules and complete the project in just 22 weeks.
Shawmut, which specializes in completing challenging restaurants projects throughout New England and across the country, has completed over 30 restaurants for P.F. Chang’s in the past seven years. A partial list of Shawmut’s additional restaurant clients includes The Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, Legal Sea Foods, McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
