Development

First Phase of Arsenal Renovation Approved, Including Large Parking Garage

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The first phase of the renovation of the Arsenal on the Charles, including a garage with more than 1,300 spaces, was unanimously approved by the Planning Board last week.  
The first phase of athenahealth’s master plan to expand and upgrade the Arsenal Complex consists of the new west parking garage, along with a new building on Arsenal Street and a pocket park along North Beacon Street. The new garage will have it has 1,390 spaces and is expandable to 1522 if stackers are put on the bottom floor of the garage, said Bob Corning, principal with Stantec. Using the stackers, one car will be put on a lift, raised up leaving space for a second car to park underneath. Some of the goals of athenahealth’s master plan is to make the campus more permeable for pedestrians, and accessible and inviting to the public, said Mark Blair, director of athenaenvironment. 
One way they are doing this is by widening the sidewalk in front of the new commercial building on Arsenal Street, near School Street. Landscaping and places to gather will be installed in that area.

Development

Townhouses on Masonic Temple Site Get Approval from Zoning Board

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A five-townhouse development on the Watertown Masonic Temple site got the go ahead from the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday. The project received unanimously approval from the ZBA, the final approval needed for the project to begin. The development, proposed by PNG LLC, will have two buildings, a three-unit one facing Church Street (across from the First Parish Church) and another two-unit building on the back of the property. ZBA member Jason Cohen said he liked the project, but he had one suggestion about the porches that run along the front of the building, undivided. “This is the kind of housing we are looking for in the town,” Cohen said.

Arsenal Project

New Mall Entrance, Paths Could be Included in Arsenal Mall Renovation

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Some significant changes to the roadways around the Arsenal Mall could be in store as part of the major renovation project. The master plan for the Arsenal Project will soon be submitted to the town, and the architects and planners behind the project met with the public for the fifth time Wednesday night. Traffic and transportation was a major focus, along with some updated views of the mall. The plan for the mall includes a movie theater, a grocery store, a bowling alley, more restaurants and a few hundred housing units. The new development would add more than 6,300 trips (a car going to and leaving counts as two trips) during a typical weekday, according to Giles Ham, traffic engineer with Vanasse & Associates.

Development

Changes Made to Garage in Athenahealths’ Renovation of the Arsenal Complex

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Some significant changes have been made to the proposed first phase of the Arsenal on the Charles renovation, including an alteration of the garage. 

Tuesday night, official from complex-owners Athenahealth discussed Phase 1 of the project, which will go before the Planning Board in September. The most significant change will be the removal of one of the two underground levels of parking in the new structure going on the west side of the Arsenal on the Charles. The change was made because there were some concerns about groundwater and soil removal, said Bob Corning, senior principal with Stantec. “The massing and height of the garage will be the same,” Corning said. “The underground level will be a bit taller to allow for stacked parking (cars on lifts) in the future if necessary.”

Development

2 Meetings on 2 Big Projects on Arsenal Street This Week

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Find out the latest on two big project that will reshape Arsenal Street this week during separate community meetings. On Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, a meeting will be held to discuss Phase One of the AODD Campus Master Plan – the renovation of the Arsenal on the Charles. The meeting takes place from 6:30-8 p.m. at 311 Arsenal Street, Watertown, in Building 311 in the complex (Athenahealth). The first phase includes a large new parking garage on the west side of the project, as well as a new building on Arsenal Street with retail and commercial spots, and community space. See more details here.

Arsenal Mall Renovation

Changes to Arsenal Park Could Result from Renovation of Arsenal Mall

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Boylston Properties Principal Bill McQuillan had an urgent message for residents and town officials Wednesday night. If they want to improve Arsenal Park, now is the time to start figuring out how. 

“We knew this was going to come up,” McQuillan said “It’s August 17, we need that park figured out, because we’re not going to do this plan without that park, or without that park we’re going to do a different plan.”

Arsenal Project developers held their fourth community meeting, at the Innovation Space at the Arsenal Mall Wednesday, where they updated residents and town officials on the project’s design direction and presented their latest building and site renderings. The presentation included preliminary plans to create pathways through the park that would connect directly to the property. Arsenal Park is run and maintained by the Conservation Commission, which would have to approve any proposed changes. Though the upgrades to the park were included in the presentation, Design Architect Christopher Jones said there’s still a lot of work to be done with the town and community.

Development

Community Meeting Set for First Phase of the Arsenal on the Charles Renovation

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The Watertown Planning Department announced the first community meeting for the renovation of the Arsenal on the Charles by Athenahealth. The meeting on Phase One of the AODD Campus Master Plan will take place Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, from 6:30-8 p.m. at 311 Arsenal Street, Watertown, in Building 311 (in the Arsenal on the Charles). When you arrive at Building 311, the hosts will direct you to the meeting room. Click on this link to see the documents relating to Phase One.

Development

Garage, Building on Arsenal St. in First Phase of Arsenal on the Charles Project

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Developers of the Arsenal on the Charles complex wasted little time before submitting plans for the first phase of the renovation of the former U.S. Army facility on Arsenal Street. Designs for the first phase of the renovation of the Arsenal on the Charles were submitted to the Watertown Planning Department just three weeks after complex owners, Athenahealth, received approval of their master plan for the area. The first phase contains the large new parking garage on the west side of the complex, as well as a new building that will have space for retail and commercial uses and a small park. The new building, known as Building 2, is a three-story 30,372 square foot building that will face Arsenal Street on the west side of the complex. The proposal includes a public plaza in front of the new building

The 1,534-space, 7-level garage is key to the project, which would increase the number of employees in the Arsenal on the Charles by 1,000 up to 4,500.