Image courtesy of Simon Property Group
Multifamily housing and hotel development could be in the works at the Burlington Mall property and surrounding office parks following approval of a mixed-use zoning district.
The new district spans 117 acres along the north side of Route 128, including the Simon Property Group-owned mall, National Development’s office park known as The District, and retail properties along Burlington Mall Road.
Several years in the planning stages, the rezoning is designed to encourage mixed-use development including multifamily housing.
Landlords and tenants including Simon Property Group and the Broad Institute support the rezoning, which is the first for the area in approximately 60 years, Select Board member Sarah Cawley said.
“The message that we heard from the business community was pretty loud and clear,” Cawley said at Monday’s special town meeting. “They are – for lack of a better word – nervous about the future. They see personally the empty parking lots and office buildings. They see the dark windows. They are coming to us as a partner, sounding the alarm.”
The changes could generate approximately 490,000 square feet of commercial development and 750 housing units, according to a presentation made at Monday’s town meeting. Maximum building heights are 120 feet for life science buildings and 70 feet for other uses.
Burlington officials have sought to encourage mixed-use development to offset a looming decline in the town’s commercial tax base from rising office and lab building vacancies. The mall’s former Lord & Taylor anchor space has been vacant since the retailer’s bankruptcy in 2020, and a planned life science conversion has been delayed.
Along with the Cambridge-based Broad Institute, which opened a Burlington research facility in September, mall owner Simon Property Group submitted a letter in support of the rezoning, Burlington Economic Development Director Melisa Tintocalis said.
Simon Property Group has indicated interest in developing a hotel or other commercial uses on underutilized portions of the mall property, Tintocalis said.
Oracle Corp. is seeking to sublease close to 400,000 square feet at its Burlington campus, and Burlington’s office vacancy rate has been lingering around 20 percent, according to brokerage data.
The rezoning proposal ran into some turbulence in late 2024, when the Burlington Planning Board voted 4-3 not to support its adoption. Opponents cited potential effects upon school budgets and traffic congestion.
The district’s size was reduced from an original 362 acres to 117 acres, eliminating eastern sections of Mall Road that are occupied by office parks.
