CITIES ON THE EDGE
A roadblock to revival
The Orange Line opened Malden to new possibilities, but many remain unrealized
By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | October 17, 2010
When the Orange Line subway came to the city 35 years ago, locals acknowledged that Malden?s future would be tied to Boston?s ? a fundamental, ideological change for a city that had its own insulated economy and boasted factories such as Converse Rubber and a downtown lined with major department stores such as Jordan Marsh, Woolworth?s, and Sears.
At the time, elected officials thought the MBTA subway would allow residents an easier commute to Boston. They also hoped it would bring shoppers back to Malden Square, where a new city hall, named Government Center, had been built, cutting the main street that runs through the square and past the subway line into two separate sections, one a dead end.
But the economic boost that locals had hoped for didn?t happen. Although the downtown was just one street away from the Malden Center T stop, out-of-towners couldn?t see it when they stepped off the subway. Instead, they saw the big brick retaining walls of Government Center and kept walking.
Still, even with the confusing downtown layout, developers noticed the Orange Line?s arrival and realized that land could be bought for less money than what it would cost in Boston and Cambridge. In the early 1980s, nobody in Malden was using the phrase ?smart growth,?? the practice of creating housing and office space around a mass transit-oriented downtown. But as office buildings, garages, and several apartment buildings rose up around Malden Square by the late ?80s, local officials realized an organic shift had occurred and it all revolved around the subway.
?Smart growth has allowed the downtown to survive and for it thrive,?? said Mayor Richard Howard, who began pushing to create a formal mass transit-oriented economic plan for the downtown shortly after he was elected almost 15 years ago.
But even with the hundreds of new apart ments and the boom in square footage of office buildings added in the 1980s, the downtown seemed listless. The main thoroughfare, Pleasant Street, was anchored by a Jordan Marsh but no longer had the mom and pop stores and the movie houses that drew people out at night. Businesses came and went; even a McDonald?s opened and closed there. ?No one went there at night. No one wanted to come here,?? said Stephen Wishoski, executive director of the Malden Redevelopment Authority.
Still, the price of real estate and the draw of the subway line continued to attract developers and, more recently, entrepreneurs to the downtown during the country?s worst recession. In 2006, Pleasant Street Apartments, a 202-unit, 11-story, luxury residential tower, was built next to Government Center. In 2007, Douglas Tran invested $1.3 million in an old storefront to open All Seasons Table, an Asian fusion restaurant. In 2009, a private developer spent $45 million on an office building that now houses the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The city?s economic gains have come at a time when violent crime has jumped in Malden. In the last two months, there have been five shootings in the city, resulting in three deaths and two injuries. After three people were shot and killed Labor Day weekend, Malden Police Chief James J. Holland announced extra police patrols and authorized the use of gun-sniffing dogs to search city parks. Also, the Middlesex County Sheriff?s Office brought a video surveillance vehicle last week to the Salem Street neighborhood, where four of the shootings occurred. And, in the wake of the violence, the Guardian Angels began patrolling Malden?s streets on Oct. 9.
City Councilor Deborah Fallon believes the city needs to calm its citizens by adding permanent patrols and establishing monthly community meetings with the Police Department. She said the focus needs to shift away from the economy toward public safety. ?Everyone?s for improving the downtown, but now the emphasis has to be on public safety,?? Fallon said.
Fallon wants the city to boost its police roster, which now stands at 74. Last summer, Howard cut the jobs of four newly hired officers and demoted six higher-ranking officers, saving the city $600,000.
Howard said the increased violence in the Salem Street area is part of a regional wave of incidents involving guns and robberies. He said the violence was not gang-related, and added that drugs may have fueled some of the incidents. Howard also believes the city?s police are well-equipped to deal with the violence and the department is not undermanned.
?We have the same amount of manpower on the street as we had before the budget cuts, so we cover the same amount of territory with the same amount of sector cars,?? said Howard, who has met with city officials in Chelsea, Revere, and Everett with the hopes of creating a regional antiviolence task force.
Yet, even with three shooting fatalities in the city occurring in one month ? in 2009 there was just one homicide ? downtown merchants and residents are optimistic about the city?s future.
?I think the city has a good sense of its strengths and is trying to play them,?? said Chris Maietta, vice president of Combined Properties, the developer that spent $45 million to build Pleasant Street Apartments. Maietta said the trend toward living outside of major metropolitan cities is pushing people to places like Malden, which has cheaper rents and two subway stations.
While businesses have taken their time to invest heavily on Pleasant Street, the new crop of restaurants ? led by All Seasons Table, which Tran plans to invest another $700,000 to expand ? is filling a demand for downtown bistros created by the city?s new residents and the estimated 5,000 people who visit or work in Malden Square each day. Tran, who is offering a first for Malden, valet parking, said the city?s density and proximity to other thickly settled communities gave him the confidence to invest on Pleasant Street.
Seth Gregory, a four-year resident of Pleasant Street Apartments, where the rent for a two-bedroom unit runs as a high as $2,325 a month, says he expects the downtown to look much different in a few years. Gregory, who works as a software engineer in Harvard Square, said he?s happy with his apartment and commute and he?s saving money by not living in Cambridge or Boston.
Gregory says the downtown still needs businesses that would help build a sense of community, such as a coffee shop with wireless Internet connection or a bookstore or a new clothing shop.
Roy Papalia, a real estate broker for Boston-based Carpenter & Co., said attracting a clothing store as a downtown anchor would help bring in other new businesses. ?You?ve got to have a generator that brings people into the area,?? he said.
Howard believes Malden Square won?t reach new heights until the city razes Government Center and sells it to a developer, a move that would allow the two sections of Pleasant street to be reconnected and the downtown to be visible from the T station. In 2005, the City Council rejected a proposal to move the city offices to a high school annex.
These days, the 125,000-square-foot Government Center building needs at least $10 million in repairs, and Howard isn?t rushing into a big renovation project. About one-quarter of the building is vacant and, to date, few have inquired about renting the space. ?At some point you?ve got to fish or cut bait,?? the mayor said.
Steven Rosenberg can be reached at
srosenberg@globe.com.
