The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the trend of shopping-mall owners rethinking how to reposition their properties amid the rise of e-commerce and consumers wary of venturing into enclosed retail shops and restaurants.
It’s “goodbye, struggling big-box retailers” and “hello, residential units, offices and labs” at the Cambridgeside mall after the Cambridge City Council voted 6-3 Monday night to approve zoning for New England Development’s proposed reboot of the mall.
The developers looking to revamp the CambridgeSide mall into a mixed-use development with residential and office towers are going back to the drawing board.
While the urban core in Boston and its environs appears poised for continued growth amid an explosion of luxury condominium and apartment towers, it’s a different picture in the suburbs, where the loss of major anchor stores is hitting the hardest.
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.
