Watertown Infill and Small Developments

Still surprised Athena didn't move downtown.
 
Alexandria bought athenahealth's campus for $525.5 million, and leased back 311k sf to the company through 2034. Alexandria will take over the remaining 371k sf at the end of next year. Alexandria also wants to redevelop 153k sf and build an additional 200k sf.

www.bostonglobe.com

Developer buys athenahealth’s Watertown campus for $525.5 million - The Boston Globe

The health data company, which was taken over by two private equity firms this year, won’t be moving, however.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

(Mods: feel free to move this if another thread is more appropriate)
 
cden4 said:
I hope they can get the developer to throw some money at the T for improved #70 bus service.
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Apologize for connecting via a quite old post in the thread -- but it was the most recent post on the topic of interest

The key to Transit for a future Dense Watertown [Arsenal District] is the eponymous Arsenal St.
If you count up the various projects [existing, approved or proposed] which are located on or near to the the Former Watertown Arsenal there is well over 1 Million Sq ft of Lab / Offices and several thousand apartment / condos and a hotel or two

A SilverLine -type of service with some regular stations along Arsenal St would do wonders to meeting a potential huge access demand without needing anything except priority signalizing on a quite wide Arsenal St.
 

Not really sure where to put this, but Tufts Health Plan has agreed to swap their Watertown location with the owners of the Canton location that used to be Reebok's home. This would be the new home after THP's merger with Harvard Pilgrim.

Not sure why THP would want to do this. The Watertown location isn't ideal but was still in a pretty good spot mobility wise. I'm sure the Reebok offices are nicer but we're talking Canton vs Watertown.

Depending on what happens with the virus, the new owners of the location should get decent interest. Maybe they will redevelop it.
 
jklo said:

Not really sure where to put this, but Tufts Health Plan has agreed to swap their Watertown location with the owners of the Canton location that used to be Reebok's home. This would be the new home after THP's merger with Harvard Pilgrim.

Not sure why THP would want to do this. The Watertown location isn't ideal but was still in a pretty good spot mobility wise. I'm sure the Reebok offices are nicer but we're talking Canton vs Watertown.

Depending on what happens with the virus, the new owners of the location should get decent interest. Maybe they will redevelop it.
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That's nuts. Quittin' time at the Watertown offices is a window worth postponing a trip on the 71 around for the huge surges that building sends out in all directions. Very high transit shares for the employees who work there. There's no way they'll be able to accommodate that many relocations at the 138 offramp with one stinking bus (Route 716) that has a grand total of 8 daily frequencies at near- 2 hr. intervals. The Block doesn't even run any known private shuttle to 128 Station or Quincy Adams for its tenants. Like Westwood Landing across the highway this is a "coulda been" suburban faux-density narnia turned abject failure where the lack of any attention whatsoever given to last-mile connectivity doomed it to just another cookie-cutter offramp park in spite of continued bloviating PR to the contrary...with no course correction whatsoever after they failed to hold onto their initial tenants.

I can only imagine Tufts is getting a steal on the lease since Spear Street Capital has barely been able to give the space away to any non-transient anchor tenants. But it's going to come with hidden costs because such high percentage of the Watertown employees are simply going to be looking for new jobs rather than take the shit sandwich commute any longer than they absolutely have to. Maybe the de facto reductions are the point, ultimately. But it's not like there's any dearth of competitive hiring locally for Big Med Insurance, so the brain drain could backfire on them. Watertown was an asset for TMP's hiring because it was so accessible. Giving that up in 1:1 trade for the short end of the sucky commute stick @ the 138 offramp is counterintuitive as hell vs. how they first built up. This isn't even a resource re-balancing urban HQ vs. suburban satellite offices. They're just straight-up giving it right up vs. every direct competitor well-invested in working both sides of that regional office space balance. Makes anti-sense given the competitive landscape they swim in.
 
jklo said:

Not really sure where to put this, but Tufts Health Plan has agreed to swap their Watertown location with the owners of the Canton location that used to be Reebok's home. This would be the new home after THP's merger with Harvard Pilgrim.

Not sure why THP would want to do this. The Watertown location isn't ideal but was still in a pretty good spot mobility wise. I'm sure the Reebok offices are nicer but we're talking Canton vs Watertown.

Depending on what happens with the virus, the new owners of the location should get decent interest. Maybe they will redevelop it.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I understood from the Globe that the motiviation was to consolidate the offices. Not sure how that computes with any potential long-term increase in telework.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
But it's going to come with hidden costs because such high percentage of the Watertown employees are simply going to be looking for new jobs rather than take the shit sandwich commute any longer than they absolutely have to.
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That must be it. A merger like this, there's going to be major layoffs. Maybe they are hoping some will quit.
 
At the Watertown arsenal mall
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I actually just visited here yesterday. It does feel more like a new-age mall than the walkable, mixed-used neighborhood they've been saying it'll be (with all the parking everywhere), but hopefully when the housing comes online it'll really come into its own.

That being said, it really needs better transit to do so.
 

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Sasaki is moving from its longtime home in Watertown to to-be-leased space in Boston, and it's selling its 97k former mill complex HQ at the Watertown Dam on Pleasant St to Berkeley Investments for $23 MM. Berkeley plans to turn the building into life sciences / lab space, with Sasaki on the design team.

www.bostonglobe.com

Sasaki sells its longtime home in Watertown - The Boston Globe

The design and architecture firm plans to move to Boston; its former offices will be renovated to attract life science companies.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
Arsenal Yards area 1:

2 redevelopment pioneers from a few years ago.
Arsenal Way, cluster of small life science/pharma companies.
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Unfortunately large surface parking lot (in addition to a garage)
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Marriott Residence Inn
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Arsenal St frontage that offers absolutely nothing.
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Arsenal Yards
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An attempt at antiquing a brand new wall.
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The 7 screen Majestic.
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It's standard stuff for this kind of place, the usual suspect stores/restaurants. Selfies were being taken, dogs were rolling around on the artificial turf, ice cream eaten at the Ben & Jerry's. It's safe, pleasant, and family-friendly. Not a knock but there will be no danger of anything spontaneous ever happening here.
 
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The lack of trees in some of the new stuff is painful to look at.
 
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