Retrofit Atlas

Malls · Massachusetts

Arsenal Mall

From the authors' mapRedevelopedReinhabitedRetrofit builtWatertown, MA

Opened 1983. Redeveloped · Reinhabited in 2016. · from the fields below

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Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from. documented = a quoted excerpt (click to read it) · reported = a source named, no excerpt yet · no source.

Arsenal Mall
Exterior of a brick building with large tiled panels and red roof. · verified by a vision model. Photo: LEONARDO DASILVA, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile20 elements · what this site is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Finance and pipeline
On FacebookThis site: …https://www.facebook.com/323557452583 overture · all sites with this
Website dead or redirectingThis site: …http://arsenalyards.com/ overture / http check · all sites with this
Place
15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)This site: 6/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this
3+ other atlas sites within 10 kmThis site: 15 within 10 km computed · all sites with this
30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent roadThis site: 130,576 on MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE fhwa-hpms · all sites with this
Bike network nearbyThis site: 116 ways openstreetmap · all sites with this
County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012This site: -10% census-cbp · all sites with this
County permitting 2,000+ apartment units a yearThis site: 2,440 units, Middlesex County census-bps · all sites with this
County typical rent $2,000+This site: $3,069/mo zillow · all sites with this
Grocery within 800 mThis site: 1 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this
High social vulnerability tract (SVI ≥ 0.75)This site: 0.76 cdc-svi · all sites with this
Interstate or freeway within 600 mThis site: MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE fhwa-hpms · all sites with this
National Register place within 500 mThis site: Commanding Officer's Quarters, Watertown Arsenal nps-nrhp · all sites with this
Renter-majority tractThis site: 69% census-acs · all sites with this
Strategy
RedevelopedThis site: Reinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel arcgis-webmap · all sites with this
ReinhabitedThis site: Reinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel arcgis-webmap · all sites with this
New use
HotelThis site: …einhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel 425 residences extraction · all sites with this
HousingThis site: Reinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel 425 residences extraction · all sites with this
OfficeThis site: Reinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel 425 residences extraction · all sites with this
Retail (continued)This site: Reinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotel 425 residences extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

From the authors' map

MA, Watertown: Arsenal Mall/ Arsenal Yards, 2016
• Reinhabitation: office, retail
• Redevelopment: residential, hotel

Now

StatusRetrofit builtderived from authors' map (retrofit year present) reported
StrategyRedeveloped · Reinhabitedauthors' map reported
New usesretail, office, hotel, housingextracted, unreviewed reported
What is there nowReinhabitation: office, retail Redevelopment: residential, hotelauthors' map reported
Retrofit year2016authors' map reported

History and original facts

Now called / also known asArsenal Yards
Opened1983Wikidata
CountyMiddlesex County
Census division1 · New England

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, original developer. Know it? Tell us.

Planning

Planning notes425 residencesextracted, unreviewed

Securitised debt and public filers

Filings (2001 to date) that name “Arsenal Mall” and “Watertown” (111 hits, first 100 sampled, 4 other filers such as tenants left out). No commercial-mortgage trust names this mall in the sample, which does not rule out a securitised loan. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.

KindFilerFilingsDatesForms
Public owner (strong)SIMON PROPERTY GROUP INC /DE/ (SPG, SPG-PJ)712002-05-17 to 2013-10-258-K 48, 10-K 22, 8-K/A 1
Public owner (strong)SIMON PROPERTY GROUP L P /DE/252001-03-30 to 2013-03-0410-K 24, 10-K/A 1

As reported by the owner

Property tables from the owner's annual report (Form 10-K, Item 2) on EDGAR, one row per filing year. GLA, occupancy and anchors are the filer's own figures at that year end; “leased” counts signed leases, “occupied” counts open stores; ownership is the filer's share. Matched by name and place, unreviewed; the verbatim table row is in sec_facts.csv.

Year endFilerName in filingGLA sq ftOccupancyYearsShareSales psfAnchors listed
2009Simon Property Group 10-K, 2010-02-25Arsenal Mall Watertown, MA
match: exact		504,33495.4% occupiedacquired 1999100.0%
Fee		Marshalls, Filene's Basement

Before and after

Before: the mall

Nothing extracted yet.

After: the retrofit

Housing units built425quote
Hotel rooms150quote
Office200,000 sq ftquote
Retail250,000 sq ftquote

Hover "quote" to see the sentence each value came from. Planned figures are labelled planned. Method.

Site context

Transit within 800 mno rail station; 7 bus stops within 400 mOpenStreetMap
Motorway junctions within 2 km127, junctionOpenStreetMap
FEMA flood zoneX · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m63: 100 FORGE ROAD ARSENAL YARDS; 2023 ARSENAL STREET CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS; ABATA THERAPEUTICS; ACRIVON THERAPEUTICS INC; ACUSPHERE INCEPA FRS
Census tract 250173703021,976 people, 4,418 per sq mi; median household income $95,714; median gross rent $2,172; 69% renters; 11.8% vacant units; 9.3% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)6 of 6 daily needs: 1 grocers, 2 schools, 40 parks or playgrounds, 1 health, 2 civic, 25 food and drink; 116 cycleway segments, 436 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity ZonenoHUD
National Register places within 500 m1: Commanding Officer's Quarters, Watertown ArsenalNPS
Housing permits, Middlesex County (MA), 20242,440 units in 5+ unit buildings, 166 in 2–4, 889 single-family; 2023: 2,902 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)overall percentile 0.76; socioeconomic 0.42; housing and transport 0.85; 8% below 150% of poverty; 18% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby15 within 10 km, 27 within 25 km: Cambridge Discovery Park (4.2 km); City Realty development on Route 9 (4.4 km); Atrium Mall (5.1 km); A&P food-storage and bakery warehouse (5.7 km); Bay Colony office complex (6.5 km)computed
Overture Mapsplace Arsenal Yards (shopping_mall, confidence 0.95, from Overture, Overture-signals, meta); building footprint 7,973 m², 7.497611999511719 mOverture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Website and socialarsenalyards.com (down or redirecting, status 403); archived 2017–2026 (Wayback) · social: facebookOverture / Internet Archive
Attention: Wikipedia page views35,909 since 2015; 2,916 in the last 12 months (-20% vs the prior 12); peak 2024-04 with 957Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023tract boundary changed between the 2010 and 2020 census; no 2013 comparisonCensus ACS
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)very low overall (score 4.2); expected annual loss $260,342; community resilience very highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 kmnoneHUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)68,958 jobs in 4,328 establishments; average annual pay $47,577; employment location quotient 0.77; employment -2.2% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 20227,861 jobs; 1,163 in retail trade, 420 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 25017370302)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 52nd income percentile as adults; 2.1% incarcerated at the 2010 count (423 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)not a low-access tract at 1 mile; poverty rate 7.6%; median family income $94,583; 135 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
SchoolsWatertown School District (PK-12); 4 public schools within 1 mile: Winship Elementary School; Lyon K-8 School; Lyon High School; HosmerNCES EDGE
Elevation35 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025469 county-logged events: 301 thunderstorm wind, 97 flood, 32 flash flood, 23 hail; $4,288,150 property damage reported; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 02472, 2026-09median list price $770,750 (-10.4% on the year); 61 active listings; median 39 days on market; 16% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20234,650 establishments (-10%); 79,115 jobs (-5%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical home value $804,837 (+2% 1 yr, +22% 5 yr); typical rent $3,069/mo (+2% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)130,576 vehicles a day on MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE (Interstate, 8 lanes); 5,454 trucks; 4 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Similar sites

  • Lafayette Place Mall, Boston, MA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop, reinhabit; also in MA; 8 km away
  • Atrium Mall, Newton, MA · Malls · same strategy: reinhabit; also in MA; 5 km away
  • Woburn Mall, Woburn, MA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in MA; 13 km away
  • Shoppers World, Framingham, MA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in MA; 23 km away

Elsewhere on the web

Pages with photos

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

  • retrofit already built
  • median rent $2,126
  • housing in the record

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

Background

Arsenal Yards is a mixed-use, smart growth development in Watertown, Massachusetts. The area is home to the original Arsenal Mall site, which was redeveloped for Arsenal Yards. It includes 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2) of retail and restaurants, 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) of office space, a 150-room Hampton Inn hotel, and 425 residences.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

  1. 1983 Opened (Wikidata)
  2. 2016 Retrofit: redevelop, reinhabit

Sources

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