Alexandria Real Estate Equities A rendering of the conceptual plans for the Watertown Mall property and adjacent properties.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. will discuss conceptual plans for the Watertown Mall property and adjacent properties.
Meetings are planned for Thursday, Jan. 27 and Tuesday, March 1 and will be held virtually.
The plan calls for keeping the Target store, and building a campus on the properties that will include life science, retail and community uses.
“The discussion will highlight a master plan special permit concept, conceptual designs for the
new buildings and the associated public realm including pedestrian and bicycle connectivity to the adjacent neighborhoods,” the meeting announcement said.
The mall property was sold by Rosen Associates to Alexandria Real Estate Equities for a reported $130 million in April 2021. Along with Target and Best Buy, the Watertown Mall includes the Registry of Motor Vehicles, Joyful Garden restaurant, Miss Maria’s School of Dance, Carter’s and Work N’ Gear.
Two other properties are included in the project: 450 Arsenal Street (currently home to AutoZone, Metropolitan Cabinets & Countertops, and Pure Italian) and 500 Arsenal Street (currently a life science building that is home to Enanta Pharmaceuticals and Forum Pharmaceuticals).
Meeting Information
The presentation posted with the project highlights the following items:
- Target store to remain
- Retaining existing community retail, including key retailers
- With Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Regional Mixed Use District (RMUD) building height limits
- Three new office/life science buildings (+/- 500,000 s.f. total)
- Two parking garages (+/- 540 new spaces)
- Two amenity buildings (exact program under development)
- No new curb cuts/entries on Arsenal Street.
See the presentation by clicking here.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities
An overhead view of the proposed redevelopment of the Watertown Mall property by Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
The first meeting will provide the full project presentation; the second will briefly review project details and will address any additional details or follow-up questions from the first meeting.
The meetings will be conducted on Zoom and may be broadcast on Watertown Cable Access TV and/or make it available to stream afterward.
First Meeting
Day: Thursday, January 27, 2022
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
URL: https://bit.ly/wat-mallredev-mtg1 (note: all lowercase)
Meeting ID: 849 2444 0003
Passcode: 02472
Telephone Dial-in: (312) 626-6799, Meeting ID: 849 2444 0003, Passcode: 02472
Second Meeting
Day: Tuesday, March, 1, 2022
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
URL: https://bit.ly/wat-mallredev-mtg2 (note: all lowercase)
Meeting ID: 817 8602 2163
Passcode: 02472
Telephone Dial-in: (312) 626-6799, Meeting ID: 817 8602 2163, Passcode: 02472
Project Contact is Rickie Golden, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., rgolden@are.com
See the meeting notice by clicking here.
I really hope Joyful Garden stays as well. Lots of families in metro west go there now for dim sum and dinners instead of going into Chinatown.
Will the RMV remain?
I see there are plsans for parking structures in the proposal, but no plans for traffic caused by the additional csrs getting to those parking structures. Will the additional traffic be part of any public hearings. This is an element of develpoment that is always ignored in Watertown. Gridlock already exists in many parts of Watertown during both mornoing and evening rush hours.
Great, let’s turn Watertown into Kendall Sq….we do not need this monstrosity here …traffic is bad enough now …this will be a disaster for our town, Stop this over development now ! What’s next a 20 story skyscraper….enough !!!
This will be an interesting presentation. I’m glad to see that the existing Target will remain. I imagine the new buildings will also be more Biotech space? I hope some other retail is being considered since across the street the selection for shopping is extremely limited and solely restaurant focused (how many eateries can we put in one space before they impact eachother for patrons?).
It is important to attend this meeting and hear everything developer has planned but make sure the neighborhood and towns concerns are addressed. Most of these meeting are a formality as our Assistant Town Manager has already blessed these developments with little regard for the community they impact. What is the long term impact of solely focusing on biotech/pharma development? Can we diversify into other sectors and diversify into other fields as at the moment we are so narrowly focused? We already have the old Tufts building and the Galen street corridor being re-developed, how does this new proposal fit in with those plans? How will the new Arsenal expansion fit in with this development? How can they predict traffic accurately when all these other developments haven’t even begun to impact our neighborhoods.
Hope to see many people at this meeting. Let your town councilor know your thoughts, let our community planners know your thoughts……….though we all know who holds the power….
RMV has potential to go in the new retail space facing Arsenal Street, but Best Buy is gone.
It is important that the RMV stay there and it would be great if Best Buy could also remain. They are a great resource to get help with tech needs. Target doesn’t have everything we need. The only other tech help is Staples in Brighton. We don’t have any other stores around to serve our needs. We shouldn’t be forced to go to Amazon for what we need. That’s a long-term plan for failure in so many ways.
Watertown is overwhelmed with biotech development. In the west end two more of these companies are going into the former Sterritt Lumber site and more are going into the former Russo location. We need to have other types of companies here so people can live and work in our community. We don’t need all biotech engineers living here who can afford to pay top prices for houses at the detriment of other white and blue collar workers. We don’t do anything to help small and medium sized businesses. I hope the new City Manager will have better ideas, but by the time this new person is in the job most of these projects will be well underway. Councilors, please get involved with this development and share your ideas to represent us, the folks who voted for you.
I’m surprised Best Buy as a chain has lasted this long, every time I go in there it’s practically empty of customers. For tech help there’s Micro Center on Memorial Dr., additionally, I’ve yet to have a tech problem that I couldn’t find the answer or fix to online. YouTube has been a great help in that department.
How about a community recreation center, wellness, or fitness that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg. A safe place for the kids. The boys and girls club is amazing, but it’s old and needs updating. A community indoor pool. How about something for the community!
Please note the previous comme is NOT from former Councilor Angie Kounelis.