Every ground-floor space at 770 Water Street is now leased. The building has about 10,000 square feet of retail under the Fox Howe apartments. The commercial leasing listing marks it "Fully Leased" and names three tenants: The Brass Tap, Monmouth Trading Cards and Cape Cod Coffee.
Two of those three are open. The third has posted that it opens early this month. For north Framingham, that means the Nobscot corner is close to having its full lineup. Neighbors pushed for that lineup through years of meetings, and the three businesses fill different parts of the day and week.
A plan that took about a decade to reach the sidewalk
The building is new, but the plan behind it is not. The Future of Nobscot timeline lays it out step by step.
- 2016: The Nobscot Village Team met with hundreds of neighbors to share its recommendations.
- 2018: The city adopted the Nobscot Village Team's zoning and design guidelines and approved the Plaza Project, according to the Future of Nobscot timeline. The Nobscot Neighbors site puts the formal zoning vote later, saying the city council unanimously adopted new B-4 zoning for Nobscot village in July 2019.
- 2020: The historic Nobscot Chapel moved to 881 Edgell Road, making room for the CVS at the corner of Edgell and Water Streets.
- March 2024: A Nouria gas station and convenience store replaced the former Gulf on the southwest corner of Edgell and Edmands.
- 2025: Fox Howe opened in the old Nobscot Plaza with 158 apartments.
That same timeline calls The Brass Tap the first ground-level retailer and says a group of neighbors came out to welcome it. It also says more small retailers were expected at street level. Those retailers have now signed on, and the spaces are spoken for.
The Brass Tap opened first, and it carries the weeknights
The Brass Tap soft-opened on Monday, March 30, 2026, and started full hours on April 1. For about six months it was the only thing open on that block, so it set the corner's first regular schedule.
That schedule centers on weeknights. The Brass Tap's Framingham page lists Trivia Night on Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. and Mixtape Music Bingo on Wednesday, October 7, at 7 p.m. It describes trivia and music as part of the bar's regular social programming. A Tuesday or Wednesday evening in Nobscot used to mean a stop at the CVS on the way home. Now there's a set reason to stay a while on a school night.
Monmouth Cards gave the corner a weekend draw
The second tenant serves a different crowd and a different day. Monmouth Cards lists its Framingham store at 770 Water Street and planned a three-day grand-opening weekend at the end of September.
- Friday, September 25: Grand Opening Day, with a free prize wheel and no purchase required.
- Saturday, September 26, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: A meet-and-greet with Boston Red Sox player Mickey Gasper. Spending $50 or more earned one complimentary autograph.
- Sunday, September 27, 2 to 6 p.m.: A community Trade Night for collectors to bring cards and make trades.
The bar is built around weeknight events, and the card shop launched with weekend ones. That matters more than it might seem. A small retail strip with only one type of business tends to fill up at one time and sit empty otherwise. These two tenants draw people on different days. The grand-opening page is the store's own announcement, and it doesn't post regular hours or plans for future trade nights. If Sunday trading is what you're after, check Monmouth's events page before you go.
Cape Cod Coffee is the last piece, and it slipped a couple of months
The third tenant would cover mornings, which is the one part of the day the corner doesn't serve yet. Cape Cod Coffee is a Massachusetts company that Jan and Pam Aggerbeck bought in 2015. Patch reported in May 2026 that it planned a café at 770 Water Street and was aiming to open in August.
August came and went. As of this weekend, the company's locations page still lists Framingham as "Coming Soon" and gives the timing as "Opening Early October." It promises "naturally made coffee, fresh treats, and coastal spirit." The page doesn't give an exact date, and we couldn't find any confirmation that it has opened. The company's social channels are the most reliable place to see when the doors actually open.
Once it does, the three tenants will line up like this:
| Tenant | Status as of October 4, 2026 | When it draws people, based on its own listings |
|---|---|---|
| The Brass Tap | Open since March 30 soft opening | Weeknight trivia and music bingo at 7 p.m. |
| Monmouth Cards | Grand opening held September 25–27 | Weekend events, including a Sunday trade night |
| Cape Cod Coffee | "Opening Early October" per its site | Coffee and fresh treats |
That fills every ground-floor space in the building.
The new storefronts sit between places Nobscot already had
The Water Street retail isn't the whole story. Before Fox Howe was built, the corner had longtime businesses and some of the best hiking in MetroWest. The new storefronts now give a reason to stop between them.
Up Edgell Road, Murphy's Eats & Treats operates at 911 Edgell Road. Its online ordering runs from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and the shop takes calls at 508-434-7744 outside those hours. The relocated Nobscot Chapel at 881 Edgell Road is on the same stretch.
To the north, the Nobscot Scout Reservation covers 452 acres across Framingham and Sudbury and is owned by the Mayflower Council. Sudbury Valley Trustees calls it the best hill climbing and wilderness hiking in its region. Tippling Rock rises to 410 feet, with views of Mt. Wachusett and Mt. Monadnock, and of the Boston skyline on a clear day. October is a good time to make that climb, before the leaves are gone. The reservation also has history along its trails. The Nixon Trail is named for Revolutionary War General John Nixon, who fought at Concord and Bunker Hill and lived on the mountain for a time. A historical marker on Thirty Rod Road shows the site of an 18th-century smallpox burial ground, and the cellar holes of the old pest houses are nearby.
If you're bringing a dog, the rules changed this year. In Spring 2026, the Mayflower Council adopted a policy for the reservation:
- Dogs must be leashed at all times.
- Dogs are not allowed in ponds, streams or wetlands.
- Owners must pick up after their dogs and carry the waste out.
- No one may walk more than three dogs at a time.
The parking area for that entrance is at 1 Nobscot Road in Sudbury, 1.1 miles south of Route 20.
For a longer outing, SVT's Henry's Hill and Wayside Forest trails in Framingham link up through the Bay Circuit Trail with both Callahan State Park and the Nobscot Scout Reservation. One trail network ties all of these together, and the Water Street storefronts are now close enough for a stop on your way in or out.
What's settled, and what isn't
The 770 Water Street lineup is set. Every space is leased, two tenants are open, and the café has posted early October as its opening.
Land near the intersection is a separate matter. J&Co has proposed a project called Nobscot Village Reimagined on land near Edgell and Edmands. Its own project page lists the status as "Community review." That proposal isn't connected to Fox Howe or its tenants, and nothing about it changes what's open on Water Street now. Anyone following the process can track updates through the project's own site and through the Future of Nobscot neighborhood timeline.
Nobscot's storefronts came in one at a time over almost seven months, and the corner has changed with each opening. If you're thinking about what that change means for your own home's value, or you're weighing a project on a property near the village center, Annie Oakman can walk you through it in plain terms. Let's Connect.
