The opening of Assembly Row in Somerville has drawn more shoppers to the neighboring Assembly Square Marketplace big-box center, according to an executive for the company that developed both properties.
Since the 300,000-square-foot Assembly Row outlet center opened in late May, sales at Assembly Square Marketplace have increased by double digits, said Donald Wood, CEO of Federal Realty Investment Trust. The marketplace, which contains big-box retailers such as Christmas Tree Shops and HomeGoods, opened in 2006 at the former Assembly Square Mall site.
Top tenants at Assembly Row are exceeding projected sales figures. The Legoland Discovery Center is drawing customers from a more than 100-mile radius and exceeding internal sales projections by more than 30 percent during its first month of operations, Wood said during a conference call discussing the Rockville, Maryland-based developer’s second-quarter results. The AMC Assembly Row 12 movie complex has the second-highest sales of the company’s 19 theaters in Greater Boston, Wood said.
The first tenants in the $150 million retail portion Assembly Row opened in late May and 38 will be open by late September. Approximately 90 percent of the retail space will be occupied by year’s end. The complex also includes 450 apartments.
The lead office tenant of the $1.5 billion mixed-use development, Partners HealthCare, will start construction this month on up to 900,000 square feet of space expected to be completed in 2016. The development will be served by a new stop on the MBTA Orange Line scheduled to open in early fall.
"Our initial ability to drive lots of people to the site with a limited tenant offering, with no operating (MBTA) stop and no Partners complex yet in this very densely populated market, it’s really encouraging," Wood said.
A second phase of residential and commercial development is planned for two parcels directly south of Assembly Row, but FRIT has yet not submitted any formal plans. Wood told analysts the company continues to analyze construction costs on that phase.
FRIT on Friday announced that it generated funds from operations of $83.6 million during the second quarter, up from $71.1 million during the same period in 2013. Net income was $43.4 million, compared with $37.4 million in the second quarter of 2013.
