Watertown Mall Redevelopment | 550 Arsenal Street | Watertown

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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.

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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.
 
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.
 
So much for building a “megacampus”...
 
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.
 
I assume the remaining retail portion of the mall has some covenant that preserves the surface parking.
 
Equilibria said:
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.
Click to expand...

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

Plans Come Into Focus for Phase 1 of Watertown Mall Redevelopment​

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“Final Site Plan Review documents have been submitted for phase 1 of the Watertown Mall Transformation. The Master Plan for the redevelopment of the property was approved this past November. As part of the first phase, existing buildings located at 446, 458, and 500 Arsenal Street along with significant surface parking areas, will be removed and replaced with two new office/laboratory buildings and an accessory amenity building. The proposed Phase 1 buildings include…”

https://www.bldup.com/posts/plans-come-into-focus-for-phase-1-of-watertown-mall-redevelopment
 
BosDevelop said:
Is that rendering a joke? All I see are trees and about 5% of the actual building. Hiding something?
Click to expand...
I think it's just what Bldup chose. These renders (from previous submissions but apparently still accurate) shows more of what the buildings will look like. That said... They still haven't pivoted away from office/lab?
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Where on earth are all those trees going to come from? I like it, but those look like 20-30 year old trees. The reality is there will be 6 ft tall saplings planted there with loads of mulch.
 
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