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Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects.
The owners of the CambridgeSide mall are proposing to replace the complex’s anchor stores with 625,000 square feet of new development in buildings between 85 and 185 feet high.
New England Development and Cambridgeside Galleria Associates Trust pitched the idea to the Cambridge Planning Board Tuesday night; however, the board voted to continue the hearing.
Three mid-rise buildings and one tower would replace the Best Buy, Sears and Macy’s locations and the mall’s First Street garage with four buildings that mix office and lab uses along with ground-floor retail, according to meeting documents. In addition, residential uses could make up as much as 20 percent of the new project. The mall’s main atrium, food court and the shops and planned third-floor offices that line it would remain intact under the proposal.
The Sears space was sold last year to Northwood Investors for $55 million. New England Development and the mall’s owners are asking the city to rezone the site to allow for the new development under a “condominium property regime” by which development on different sites can be assigned to different owners.
