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!