Meadow Glen Mall Redevelopment | Medford

Using Environmental Justice populations as a proxy for "would really prefer a Walmart"
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Why would people who favor Environmental Justice want a Walmart? The opposite, I would think.
 
Ron Newman said:
Why would people who favor Environmental Justice want a Walmart? The opposite, I would think.
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Read the key on the map. Environmental Justice groups are the victims of our pollution, not the agitators. Its low-income/voiceless folks that we put our highways near or put near our highways. They are poor. Walmart makes their income (and, yes, public assistance) go farther.

[Edit]EJ neighbors are also predominantly dark-skinned. You just don't see them at Wegmans, and Wegmans is not chasing them as customers. Walmart is. I'm not saying Wegmans is racist, just that Wegman's target audience is in Northboro and Brookline/Newton[/Edit]
 
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Arlington,
When I said "I was actually hoping that this entire area would be built up as mixed use" I was referring to a much larger area referenced in an earlier post. The broader area bounded by Rt 16, the Fellsway, Riverside Ave. and Locust St., is a massive sea of parking lots.

I would rather see a Supermarket here as part of a much larger redevelopment - significant in scope enough to justify better transit connection (there are already buses) to nearby Wellington, with elements such as the less obtrusive parking arrangement seen in Dedham's Legacy Place. Instead, a Walmart would be surrounded by sweeping parking lots.

Also, I feel like you're painting Medford as an entirely working class city. It's population is very economically diverse. Perhaps you're overstating Walmart's altruistic efforts to support a downtrodden population.
 
nico said:
Arlington,
Also, I feel like you're painting Medford as an entirely working class city. It's population is very economically diverse. Perhaps you're overstating Walmart's altruistic efforts to support a downtrodden population.
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Medford *is* diverse, but it is still socially stratified, with the "high" end of diverse not lacking for retail options.

Brooks Estates and Lawrence Estates ("South Winchester / South Melrose" sides of town where I live now) are far from downtrodden, but being a 1-car-per-driver area we can (and do) easily drive to Woburn(BJs/Mall), Everett (Costco/Target), and out Rts 2/2A/US3 (Wilson Farms/Costco/Burlington), and have plenty of mid/high grocery options with Trader Joes (Arlington/Cambridge) and Whole Foods and the Stop/Shaw/Stars. And our Apple Store is at the Burlington Mall. My wife says she doesn't need a Walmart, and I believe her. (She's hoping for Market Basket and likes what they've done in out by Burlington)

But Meadow Glen is (as you see on the map) walkable (or just less-car dependent) for the Mystic Ave and St Polycarp Projects and "West Malden Center" demographic. It happens to be midway between two Targets for good reason: Target knows it too needs that demographic.

[Edit] If I were Military Governor of Medford, the bulldozers would even now be clearing the site for Station Landing II with a city-view residential tower, some low-rise-over-retail with the Meadow Glen food court oddly intact, plus a Trader Joes and a Market Basket (and no Walmart...happy that Food unlike Walmart Stuff is made in America). There would be a Zelkova-tree lined streetscape and a branch of You-Do-It Electronics and a "Frog Pond" water feature that the Lo Conte Rink staff could flood, freeze and Zamboni in the winter, and Krispy Kreme would stay open at the point of a bayonette..and well...I'm not Military Governor...oh, and Kohl's is welcome to stay as long as they stock enough Khaki and Olive Drab.[/Edit]
 
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The other parts of Medford, nearest to Somerville, feel to me like an extension of Somerville. I don't see any great demand from Greater Ball Square to have a Wal-mart nearby.
 
Incidentally, knowing they have a problem, Walmart is working on an "urban" format, such as this one proposed for Fort Totten Square in DC, about as far from downtown DC as Meadow Glen is from downtown Boston :

t-03.jpg


More at http://dc.urbanturf.com/pipeline/62/Fort_Totten_Square/
and Walmart's own site at http://washingtondc.walmartcommunity.com/about-the-stores/
 
Ron Newman said:
A Walmart with an attached Starbucks? Never seen that before.
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The renders on the PDF I posted curiously only have "Coffee Shop" as the sign. I wouldn't bank on Starbucks because Target has a strong partnership with them already.
 
Ron Newman said:
A Walmart with an attached Starbucks? Never seen that before.
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I'm sure the Medford concept will have Dunkin' Donuts ;-) They may be crazy, but they're not stupid.

Actually, I suspect the real "holdouts" in the transition to the new Meadow Glen order will be the senior citizens for whom the Meadow Glen functions as their senior center. Indoor walk activities + McDonalds coffee = hell no, they won't go.
 
datadyne007 said:
The Ft Totten renders are pretty damn sexy and urban!http://washingtondc.walmartcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/dcrenderings.pdf
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Thanks for this! Note that Ward 2 and Ward 3 (on the left) get no Walmarts because they are full of rich white people. DC Ward 3 similar to Brookline/Roslindale/West Roxbury, while DC Ward 2 = Back Bay / South Boston

Instead, Walmart is targeting where they will be most appreciated: The proposed stores will be the nicest retail options in the gritty/minority wards of the city.

As far as walkability to Transit goes, the Ft Totten Walmart site is .6 miles from the Metro--so it would go on a site more analogous to the MA28/MA16 Rotary or where the Colonial Ford/Lincoln is. Further out, I think they'd only promise "nice" but not "apartments-over-retail"
 
Arlington said:
Incidentally, knowing they have a problem, Walmart is working on an "urban" format, such as this one proposed for Fort Totten Square in DC, about as far from downtown DC as Meadow Glen is from downtown Boston :

t-03.jpg


More at http://dc.urbanturf.com/pipeline/62/Fort_Totten_Square/
and Walmart's own site at http://washingtondc.walmartcommunity.com/about-the-stores/
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At least it's multipurpose and doesn't look like a big box. I wouldn't be totally opposed to a Walmart there if only it weren't a cookie-cutter parking wasteland. You've got the Mystic path system there, which is grade-separated from 16 with a duck-under and will eventually connect all the way to Alewife (could be helped by a footbridge across 28 though). You've got nearby boat landings. You've got the adjacent DCR stadium, ice rink, and elementary school. You've got dense residential on the Riverside Ave. side. And that fugly wooded area by the radio towers has lots of development or greenspace potential. Meadow Glen's much too sweet a parcel to waste for another generation on nuthin' but asphalt.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
At least it's multipurpose and doesn't look like a big box. I wouldn't be totally opposed to a Walmart there if only it weren't a cookie-cutter parking wasteland. You've got the Mystic path system there, which is grade-separated from 16 with a duck-under and will eventually connect all the way to Alewife (could be helped by a footbridge across 28 though). You've got nearby boat landings. You've got the adjacent DCR stadium, ice rink, and elementary school. You've got dense residential on the Riverside Ave. side. And that fugly wooded area by the radio towers has lots of development or greenspace potential. Meadow Glen's much too sweet a parcel to waste for another generation on nuthin' but asphalt.
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Well, if just the Kohl's south parking and the former Colonial Lincoln sites got Lake Shore Drive / Lincoln Park that'd be cool.
 
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I wish the Shaw's in Twin City Plaza looked more like that Walmart
 
nico said:
My apologies - this is nothing but hearsay.

There's been a lot of talk that the Meadow Glen Mall (Medford) and the Shaw's across the street will be closed as part of a major redevelopment. Talk of the mall closing has been around for years, however, I understand that employees at Kohl's received an official notice recently.

Again, sorry for posting hearsay, but my wife thinks it's peculiar that I spend so much time on this site and for once was hoping she might actually get some useful info out of me.
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There are multiple rumors going around about this...RUMOR 1: Khols and Marshalls are staying and they are adding Walmart.....RUMOR 2: Khols is going over to Assembly Square and Marshalls is closing..and Shaws well they have a multi-year lease left and short of someone taking over the entire lease they arent going anywhere as much as they wish they could, they cant afford to break the lease on the space (I am a Shaws employee and I probably am wrong since we are always the last to know). I wouldnt mind a Walmart in the area because most of the shopping options are expensive and with the college kids in town it would bring them more into Medford than Somerville which we need at this point.
 
http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/01/1970’s_era_medford_mall_due_major_makeover

1970’s-era Medford mall due for major makeover
January 10, 2013
By Greg Turner / Boston Herald

Shopping center king Steve Karp’s company has a makeover in mind for the Meadow Glen Mall in Medford.

Karp’s New England Development is in the preliminary stages of redeveloping the 34-year-old mall anchored by Kohl’s and Marshalls and located on Mystic Valley Parkway.

“We are looking at updating it, but we don’t have any specific plans or a timetable,” said Deborah Black, spokeswoman for the Newton real estate firm.

The small indoor mall opened in 1979 and sits on 21 acres owned by a partnership of Karp and fellow mall developer Steve Weiner. The 50-store mall is managed by Urban Retail Properties of Chicago.

An attorney representing the mall approached city officials last year about possibly converting the 260,000-square-foot mall into a “lifestyle” center, by replacing the middle section between the anchor stores with a strip of shops, each accessible from the outside.

There are reports that Walmart, which scrapped plans for new stores in Somerville and Watertown last year, is eyeing the site.

Lauren DiLorenzo, director of Medford’s community development office, said the city is interested in seeing more done with the property, which is adjacent to a 260-unit luxury condo building, LoConte Rink and Shaw’s supermarket.

“We’d like to see the property maximized to more of a mixed use and really start to create a neighbor in that area,” DiLorenzo said, “but they are retail owners.”

Retail expert Mike Tesler said that even if the Meadow Glen Mall is refreshed, it would still face stiff competition from other mixed-use projects down the Mystic River — namely National Development’s Station Landing near the Wellington MBTA station in Medford and Somerville’s Assembly Square.

“It’s going to depend on getting an interesting and appropriate mix of (new) stores because that’s a very competitive retail market there,” said Tesler, of Norwell’s Retail Concepts. “It’s really going to be a challenge for Karp.”
 
The Shaw's supermarket on Locust St across from Meadow Glen Mall is closing on Feb 20. They say (in the Patch article from Jan 15, linked below) that it has not been profitable for some time.

http://medford.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/medford-shaws-closing.

I've revived this older thread because one of the uses that people thought a redeveloped Meadow Glen Mall site might be good for would be either a Market Basket or a Walmart Supercenter, both of which would be looking to fill the "bargain" groceries niche.

Shaw's failure says to me that Wegman's is unlikely to work in the Meadow Glen area.

The "politically correct" retailer in this location would be Market Basket (a local fave, a needed amenity, without Walmart's "baggage"). I know my family would prefer a Market Basket.

Yet the Little Economist in me says that Walmart would be good here too--Rt 16 is quite the big box bargain boulevard. The low-and-moderate income neighbors would appreciate not having to make the long trek to Target to shop.
 
Shaw's failure says to me that Wegman's is unlikely to work in the Meadow Glen area.
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How so? Shaw's failure only means that people didn't want to shop at Shaw's. Maybe it was too expensive compared to Stop & Shop and other nearby markets?

One of the employees of this Shaw's told me that Market Basket has run out of capital. They have been unable to finish and open a new Market Basket in Revere that has been 90% complete for several months now.
 
Possibly relevant fact: McDonald's in Meadow Glen Mall closed a few weeks ago.
 
Ron Newman said:
How so? Shaw's failure only means that people didn't want to shop at Shaw's. Maybe it was too expensive compared to Stop & Shop and other nearby markets?
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Wegman's positions themselves as upscale, and so I suspect you have answered your own question: Accepting your premise that Shaws was unshopped-at because it was too expensive, suggests that Wegman's would be scared off from the Meadow Glen area--not wanting to risk similarly "overshooting" the market. They are probably more comfortable in (or indistinguishably close) a town with a better-matched demograpic (Melrose? Winchester? Cambridge?).

Ron Newman said:
One of the employees of this Shaw's told me that Market Basket has run out of capital. They have been unable to finish and open a new Market Basket in Revere that has been 90% complete for several months now.
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The non-opening of the Revere Market Basket (at the Northgate Shopping Ctr is mysterious and troubling for all fans of Market Basket / Demoulas (Most recent article I found was from September and suggests a family disagreement on business model and expansion pace).

But your point is well-taken, Ron: if the Demoulas can't open the Revere store, it is unlikely that they are what's driving re-development at Meadow Glen, and unlikely to have been a factor in Shaw's closing (Shaw's wasn't "scared away")
 
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