Watertown Mall Redevelopment | 550 Arsenal Street | Watertown

[abdinoor]

Meetings are planned for Thursday, Jan. 27 and Tuesday, March 1 and will be held virtually.
The presentation posted with the project highlights the following items:

• Target store to remain
• Retaining existing community retail, including key retailers
• With Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Regional Mixed Use District (RMUD) building height limits
• Three new office/life science buildings (+/- 500,000 s.f. total)
• Two parking garages (+/- 540 new spaces)
• Two amenity buildings (exact program under development)
• No new curb cuts/entries on Arsenal Street.

See the presentation by clicking here.

 

[RandomWalk]

It’s a shame they couldn’t replace the Target parking with structured parking and something along Arsenal to continue the street wall.

 

[curcuas]

No housing either? An apartment tower would go great on that Target parking lot.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

No housing either? An apartment tower would go great on that Target parking lot.

Probably zoning.

 

[Brad Plaid]

Underwhelming, too much open space. Can be easily reconfigured (with a variance if need be) to fit another building. This is Watertown's evolving Biotechnology Golden Mile, so maximize it. The rest of the town can do the sleepy suburb thing.

 

[RandomWalk]

The green space pulling away from the street is sad for the stumpy buildings in this plan. Height is necessary in this area, but density is.

Keeping the Target as-is reminds me of the epic fit the town had when Walmart wanted to build along Arsenal.

 

[W-4]

So much for building a “megacampus”...

 

[pushy_penguin]

Revised Watertown Mall Special Permit package:
LINK

There's a wealth of information in the linked PDF but I pulled out the renderings below.

 

[theSil]

Watertown gets its own mini Cambridge Crossing

Seems positive that the second parking garage has been moved north of the bike lane and is no longer fronting Arsenal St. Still seems like a big missed opportunity that this development doesn't include housing.

 

[Equilibria]

If you're building big garages, why include the surface parking at all? This should have a continuous streetwall on Arsenal or send it back to the drawing board.

 

[#bancars]

Revised Watertown Mall Special Permit package:
LINK

There's a wealth of information in the linked PDF but I pulled out the renderings below.View attachment 38320View attachment 38321View attachment 38322View attachment 38323View attachment 38324View attachment 38325View attachment 38326

lol

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

That massing isn't bad, but those buildings have ZERO character and will bring nothing to that space.

 

[RandomWalk]

I assume the remaining retail portion of the mall has some covenant that preserves the surface parking.

 

[Desire Path]

If you're building big garages, why include the surface parking at all? This should have a continuous streetwall on Arsenal or send it back to the drawing board.

The existing Target, and its surface parking, is not a part of the redevelopment.

 

[Blackbird]

those buildings have ZERO character and will bring nothing to that space.

This development captures Watertown's brand perfectly, then!