CambridgeSide Galleria Reno/Redev | First Street | East Cambridge

Wow, they did it. I wasn't sure if/how they'd be successful in leasing the original 3rd floor of the mall, but apparently they've got a deal:

Coworking is a great idea for that space.
 
Also covered in BBJ


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“SmartLabs, a Boston-based provider of flex lab space, is taking over the third floor of the CambridgeSide mall.
The company has signed a lease for the 140,000 square feet that New England Development is converting to lab and office space on that level of the Cambridge shopping center.
SmartLabs employs what it calls a “laboratory-as-a-service” model, with tenants given "fractionalized access" to labs and production capabilities in one setting.
The CambridgeSide location, expected to open in late 2024, will be SmartLabs’ largest yet. It also has locations in the Seaport District, Brighton’s Boston Landing, Kendall Square and Cambridgeport, as well as sites in San Francisco and Philadelphia.
The agreement is one of the largest life sciences leases signed in Greater Boston in recent months. New England Development, which owns CambridgeSide alongside an unidentified UBS Asset Management client, originally intended to make the third floor purely office space, but pivoted to labs last year amid the hardening of remote-work habits.
The Boston-based development firm and UBS are also building a 10-story, 365,000-square-foot life sciences complex at the mall, at what had been a Macy’s. The core and shell of that project, known as 20 CambridgeSide, is on pace to be built out by late 2023, said Douglass Karp, president of New England Development.“
 
Former Sears side (3/18).
The two spots where the ground-level glass extends up to double height, I believe, are separate entrances. One is for the commercial lab tenants, the other is for the new First Street entrance to the mall, which will connect to a corridor through this building:
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The interior of the mall indicates the new First Street entryway as well:
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Totally agree with ya - only way it would make sense is if there were two separated bus-only lanes included in that.

It should get center-running bus lanes if (when) the crosstown BRT from the Seaport to Kendall happens.

The T101 on the upcoming MBTA bus map follows First Street instead (because it needs to stop at Lechmere).
 
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It should get center-running bus lanes if (when) the crosstown BRT from the Seaport to Kendall happens.

Agree with all of you, but isn't a big challenge that Land Boulevard is state/DCR jurisdiction? Cambridge has generally done a nice job with modifying their own streets for multi-mode, but this is not one Cambridge can handle on their own (not saying it shouldn't change)...
 
Agree with all of you, but isn't a big challenge that Land Boulevard is state/DCR jurisdiction? Cambridge has generally done a nice job with modifying their own streets for multi-mode, but this is not one Cambridge can handle on their own (not saying it shouldn't change)...

If it's a MassDOT road that shouldn't be a problem - MassDOT is fine with bus lanes. It's too many car lanes that are their problem.

DCR is capable of learning.
 
If it's a MassDOT road that shouldn't be a problem - MassDOT is fine with bus lanes. It's too many car lanes that are their problem.

DCR is capable of learning.

According to google, it's DCR

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Agree and not saying DCR isn't capable of learning, but it just seems like an extra hurdle. I am not aware of any recent DCR/MBTA coordination efforts (maybe there are?) but would love to see that here...

If I were Cambridge, I'd be lobbying for a full overhaul of the DCR land between the Longfellow and Science Park, including both Land Blvd and Cambridge Parkway / Charles bank. It's needed for both transit and improved public realm.
 
According to google, it's DCR

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Agree and not saying DCR isn't capable of learning, but it just seems like an extra hurdle. I am not aware of any recent DCR/MBTA coordination efforts (maybe there are?) but would love to see that here...

Honestly, I'd rather see the City of Cambridge take over the road (as it should Memorial Drive as well).
 
Didn’t manage to catch a photo, but they disassembled the crane on the Macy’s site over the weekend.
 

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