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Cambridge approves remake of CambridgeSide mall into residential/office/restaurant complex
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Good idea
There's a lot of NIMBY policies in Cambridge but this and the development along the McGrath is good to see for sure.
Oh man, if you want NIMBY
Check out the East Cambridge Planning Team https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/east-cambridge-planning-team
Pretty much anything that would help new residents or renters turns into a giant battle/argument whereupon any change of parking or the current density is pretty much the apocalypse to all but a few of the forum members.
I started lurking during the ABC all-affordable zoning debates last year (which in and of itself is not a very great solution either when the problem is a long-sabotaged housing market in general), and pretty much just get a daily digest I roll my eyes to every day to a bunch of people either oblivious or simply indifferent as "they got theirs" to the nature of the problems facing Cambridge zoning and housing.
Oh no!
I know some people consider the galleria as semi trash and 'high class ghetto' but I worked in Kendall for many years and ate more than my share of food there. Back in 1997, a groups of friends and co-workers would head to Cheesecake factory - at that time, dining options in the area after 6 pm were quite limited!
I am pretty sure Taco Bell and the Big Easy as well as the other chains that have come and gone helped me through the dot com busts and several layoffs. I've not going to pretend that there weren't some shady folks (kids and adults) or that over the last 26 years I didn't see more than one security incident with shoplifters and guards tackling someone on a lazy Sunday afternoon with an armload of goods, but generally I always felt safe.
As a father, we used to enjoy visiting the mall around the holidays, mostly to browse Best Buy and Borders books. A few times I had to work weekends in the office nearby and would take the kids for lunch or just to hang around. As time went out and the kids got older, trips to the mall became much less frequent except for around December.
In any event, I am glad it would transform into something more useful, but I'll always have the memories.
memories...
The CambridgeSide Galleria Mall was a landmark in my childhood and adolescence.
My fondest memory? As a 9 year old, when it first opened, they did this promotion where they film you in front of a blue screen, stopping the Delorean car by lunging onto the hood while it sped at you. I still have the VHS of my scene – priceless!
Not so fondest memory? As a 14 year old, getting caught tagging on their property and having my dad pick me up; I didn't see daylight for months.
I was such a mall rat in 5th grade, every weekend! I will miss you, the Galleria!
To what extent will it remain an indoor shopping mall?
It's hard for me to tell from any of the news coverage so far. What will become of Best Buy and the Apple Store, for instance?
Level
I am sure they all will be leveled and rebuilt. Its not like any of what is there today will be standing when they are done. (that mall isnt designed that way to leave the anchors standing)
They might be invited back when the complex is done.
Bestbuy has stores in Everett, South Bay and Watertown.
Apple has stores on Boylston and in several malls in the burbs.
well...
Other locations easy to get to with a car. These mall stores are convenient for we city locals without cars - that's half the point. So while Boylston st is easy, other other locations aren't steps off a subway line.
8-10 years of construction...
8-10 years of construction....?
Stages
They're not going to plow the mall under and rebuild. Each building will most likely have it's own tear down and build up.
Wow
First off, tagged Adam but realized this was posted this morning so I am a bit late to the game..
Kinda sad/angry they are closing this mall. This is my goto mall. Its on the T, has the better selection of stores and a decent food court. No other mall that's on a train line is like it.
I know malls are dying but we're not completely there yet, and I am kinda perplexed that New England Development wants to do this with it being so popular. That mall still attracts people and big name stores.
Well okay, I kinda do know why NED wants to. Like all other developers in Boston, they want to ca$h in on this 'luxury condo' and 'high class office and lab space' build build build craze we are having in town. It sucks that they see this mall as the next big thing..
I'd love to know some real numbers on un-leased office space in the metro area to see if matches demand. Because they are building a huge complex near the new Lechmere T station and I see lots of 'for lease' in the nearby areas, so we can't be 'fully leased' to warrant so much office space going on.
Its a money grab to say the least.
Oh how tides have turned.... 41 years ago, the City of Cambridge was looking to redevelop the riverfront and planned for a mall. And they wrote a plan to do so.
https://www.cambridgema.gov/~/media/Files/CDD/Planning/Studies/EastCambr...
Now it will be re-developed again. One of the original planning architects who wrote the above plan, is now a city councilor and had this to say about what they wanted to do now. (in June)
https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20190625/guest-column-east-cambri...
I agree with him, it's too big.
I found the 1976 plan several years ago online looking for other stuff, so I'm aware that the goal of the 1976 plan is was, in his words:
" I wanted to build a thriving, mixed-use district along the Charles River that complimented and enhanced the historic, residential community. CambridgeSide’s retail arcade was the linchpin of this plan."
And while we don't think of a mall like this now, in 1976, it was a great idea. Like fashion, urban planning ideas do change over time..
Of course now New England Development wants to double the size. Its just too big. There's already too much development in that area.
PS - If you have time to kill and are into Urban planning, read the 1976 report. It's interesting to see what it contains, what was built, what wasn't built. The artists renderings are pretty spot on and look just like CambridgeSide and the surrounding buildings. And of course, my favorite, a few lines in there somewhere that talk about "new lechmere station" and 'extending the green line"......
The mall already shrank by 1/3 this year
During the first half of 2019, CambridgeSide closed its entire third floor, requiring all tenants there to close or relocate to vacant spaces on the first two floors. Most just closed, including the Gap, Forever 21, J Crew, Banana Republic, Express, Hollister, Abercrombie, Macy's home store annex, and probably others that I don't remember right now.
The plan, even before this rezoning, was to convert that floor to office or lab space.
For a couple of months, Bank of America was up there all by itself, before they finally relocated their branch to the second floor in July.
Macy's (originally built as Filene's) is still on both the second and third floors, but you can only enter it from the second floor now.
I posted some photos of all this earlier this year: March 2019 and May 2019.
Mall Death
I wonder if the 'death' of the mall is their own doing. Seems every time an interesting store closes it's replaced with either a makeup store or women's fashion. Last time I was there (for best buy), there was really no mall store I wanted to poke my head in and shop... (Copley and most of the pru has had the same effect...)
They should have at least brought in another bookstore
to replace Borders after it closed. A mall seems incomplete without a bookstore.