Boston02124
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Assembly would be a LOT more accessible if they could hash things out with the T to snake the river walk behind Charlestown Garage and associated properties to reach Alford St. Garage already has a 15 ft. grass easement between the bus parking lot pavement and the seawall. All they need is a tall security fence around the yard, decorative fence atop the seawall, and *at most* move the curb + guardrail back 1-2 ft. for breathing room. Then the ratty MOW yard closest to where the path cul-de-sacs out just needs a little landscaping and cleanup to do the same.
1800 ft. walk...and a nice walk despite what's on the other side of the security fence if they just top the seawall with something tasteful and light the path. There's already a Harborwalk segment on the other side of Alford going around the Scraffts building and Delta Dental HQ. And only 2 additional blocks to square before that segment can be hooked in contiguous with the segment that goes along Little Mystic Channel to the Navy Yard.
I mean, clearly the Assembly path was provisioned for just such this connection behind the garage given the spot where the trail ends, with dreams of just such a contiguous Harborwalk link when that small Charlestown gap gets filled. But have any of the parties that be actually talked about doing this sooner rather than later? It's not like this is a big-money proposition. Assembly would be so much more accessible to Charlestown and East Somerville-feeding-into-Sullivan if there was a *nice* walk available. When I lived there a few blocks off Broadway I would've gladly gone the extra distance on a *nice* walk to get to Home Depot instead of having to duck under the scary 93 underpass to breach the great wall of East Somerville.
Just do it. Start walking there, clear the path and see who says no and why.
Even though this is a small money thing to do it is going to get blocked because bigger players want the bigger project and don't want nice things to happen before they can use those niceties as leverage to get their projects through...So we have to live the status quo for another decade unless someone just gets some bolt cutters and makes it happen.
Update on the old cinema parcel:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...mer-theater/TbA4p4TlfaBQf5kWqVjN5L/story.html
Update on the old cinema parcel:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...mer-theater/TbA4p4TlfaBQf5kWqVjN5L/story.html
Boston Globe said:The details are still in flux, but [the developer's] current plan is to build condos, a hotel, and two office or lab buildings of about 500,000 square feet each, along with ground-floor retail spaces — about 1.2 million square feet of construction in all.
If they end up doing this, the big box stores are certainly going to be going away. Significantly more value in high rise retail, condo, office space and they stick out big time. Eminent domain has been mentioned in the past and I wouldn't be surprised to see Federal Realty do it themselves for a tax break (they own the Kmart, Staples, Christmas Tree Shops, etc.)
If they end up doing this, the big box stores are certainly going to be going away. Significantly more value in high rise retail, condo, office space and they stick out big time. Eminent domain has been mentioned in the past and I wouldn't be surprised to see Federal Realty do it themselves for a tax break (they own the Kmart, Staples, Christmas Tree Shops, etc.)
The old "Assembly Square Marketplace" big boxes will surely go eventually, but I suspect they still have more years ahead of them then much of this board is giving them credit for. F-line points out a "big box glut along the Mystic" with plenty of less-than-successful locations, but every location at Assembly Square itself is super successful and has been for years. That strip has been 100% leased up and busy since opening in its current form in 2006. A market correction may be due to close down some of the big-box supply in the area, but market corrections almost always take down the weakest competitors, not the strongest, and Assembly is clearly the strongest around. Yes, the Assembly real estate is better suited redevelopment than the land at Meadow Glen or Wellington or Gateway, but for the same reasons it is also better suited for the existing retail than the land at Meadow Glen or Wellington or Gateway. Some of the exact same dynamics that make the Assembly Home Depot more successful than the one across the river also make the Assembly Sports Authority and Christmas Tree Shop and etc. more successful than potential relocations across the river.
Since Federal Realty owns the Marketplace as well as Assembly Row, I think the ball is firmly in their court. If they decide to redevelop, great for them, but the steady income they're getting from the big boxes in their current form makes that calculation harder to justify. The city has mentioned eminent domain, but I really don't see that happening anytime even remotely soon. Taking one commercial development to build another is always controversial, and since the same company owns both what you're trying to remove and what you're trying to create it introduces all sorts of sketchiness and potential for corruption to the mix.
There are still plenty of other lots in the Assembly Square area that will likely be redeveloped first. Assembly Row itself is only about 50% built out at this point (4 of 8 parcels complete). Circuit City has been vacant for years. The "old cinema" parcel is working on (super ambitious) plans. This parcel is currently vacant and listed and could easily be combined with the Dunkin Donuts/Sunrise Caribbean and redeveloped. I'd love to see the Ninety-Nine go on a redevelopment kick and build up their Assembly and Charlestown locations and then move back in to the first floors. There's also always the possibility that some of the big box could go--most likely the K-Mart section--but the rest could remain as is for longer.
So yeah, the big boxes should go eventually, but their success in their current form makes that less appealing and plenty of other sites should go first.
You do, however, have to game out what outside triggers might do to hasten the process. KMart's future being the #1 variable for that. At the rate their holding company is going it's par odds that the entire KMart brand will be shuttered within 5 years. Practically speaking, it's at risk of going splat very suddenly at any given moment with how volatile Sears' current owners are. So there's a big decision right up-front if the far-and-away largest anchor tenant of that strip suddenly goes vacant. Do the landlords recruit a new anchor tenant immediately knowing that it's going to indefinitely lengthen the lifespan of the strip (because they'll probably have to bake in guarantees to the new tenant to not touch the property for X years)? Or do they accelerate down that road to inevitability when the other 6 tenants are potentially more immediately malleable to relocation?
BB&B might not pass up a consolidation offer with the Gateway location if the opportunity arose. Staples has perfected its 'urban' store layout enough that it would probably be happy to trade into a non- big box storefront at Assembly or Station Landing. Those are easy pick-offs. Then that leaves only 4 tenants to settle up. 4 tenants the landlord has many options for accommodating in the same area.
So don't discount events outside of well-laid plans forcing a change of gears on the timetable for the big boxes' exodus from the site. The big box marketplace itself is volatile enough right now that wild mood swings on Wall Street or with short attention-span leveraged buyout brand owners can start that process without provocation. KMart being the first and wobbliest domino there.
F-Line to Dudley said:-- Bed Bath & Beyond has its duplicate Gateway location. And they've been pruning some of their excess stores lately so one of these was probably ripe for consolidation. Assembly's a lot stronger than the Gateway location, but I doubt they'd care if it consolidates.
If they redo the whole strip they are going to have to do more parking. It's just a fact for having new office and shopping, despite being on the orange line and becoming a more defined neighborhood. So if KMart goes, they could build a couple 1st floor commercial with parking up top, like the currently have, and that let's them move down the row and build up the surface lots and the other players on the strip in a more phased fashion.
Why wouldn't this also apply to the Home Depot? HD could just double down on the Gateway location and call it a day. There's always South Bay for direct I-93 access if one is that desperate for it.