Natick Collection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may need to be rewritten. Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions. |
The Natick Collection, formerly known as Natick Mall until February 2007, is a large shopping mall owned by General Growth Properties (GGP), located near Route 9, Route 30, and the Mass Pike (I-90) in Natick, Massachusetts, adjacent to Shoppers World. After the most recent expansion in 2007, the mall now has 1.7 million sq ft leasable area and over 270 retailers.
Contents |
[edit] History
Originally the location was two separate stand-alone stores, Sears and Filene's, separated by a parking lot; the mall being constructed later between the two locations beginning in 1964. The first Natick Mall opened in 1965 with 25 stores as a one-story mall and was the first enclosed mall in the Boston metropolitan area. The newly constructed mall included two more smaller anchors located on the north side of the mall, Woolworth's and Boston Baby, and had a large fountain/entertainment area in front of the new Sears mall entrances.
When the Boston Baby store closed in the early eighties, the structure was remodeled into a new retail wing with a dozen smaller store such as The Gap and My Store for Levis (forerunner to the Levis Store) as well as a small food court. The former York Steak House near Sears underwent a similar transformation when the restaurant closed in 1985, becoming home to several national retailers such as J. Jill and Land's End. The mall eventually became the home to over fifty stores and restaurants.
By this time, it was obvious that the mall was undersized and showing signs of aging, given it was nearly 30 years old. The original mall owners began an expansion of the structure in the 1991, intending to add a third anchor location, Lord and Taylor, on the front of the mall off the main entrance in the center and a second floor. Construction began with the citing of the footings for the new structure, but came to a halt in 1992 when the mall was sold to the Sears real estate division, Homart Development Company. Homart, who also purchased the adjacent Shopper's World property, canceled the expansion plans for both mall complexes and developed two new concepts for a completely rebuilt, enclosed mall on the larger Shopper's World property and a power center at the Natick Mall location.
However, one of the major tenants, Filene's, had completely remodeled and expanded its Natick location as part of the former Natick Mall expansion plans and was unwilling to spend more capital on constructing a new building at Shopper's World. In response, Homart reversed the plans and developed the concepts that became the new Natick Mall and Shoppers' World. The original mall's tenants were moved in to the Shopper's World complex in 1993, and the mall torn down. A new, modern two-story structure with over 200 stores was built and opened in late 1994. The facility included a new Sears, a Lord & Taylor and relocated Jordan Marsh.
[edit] 2006-2010 Renovation and expansion
The mall underwent a large scale renovation and expansion beginning in late 2006. The mall re-branded its image, beginning by attempting to change its name to simply "Natick", but settling on "Natick Collection" after resistance from the town.[1]
The first phase of the renovation project was opened to the public on September 7, 2007, though not all stores were ready for business at the time. Those store not ready for operation at the time planned to open through winter 2007 to spring 2008. This phase of the expansion project included the renovation the original mall, the addition of approximately 100 new stores and two new anchors, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, in a new wing on the site of the former Wonder Bread\Hostess baking factory adjacent to the mall property on the north-east side. This addition, along with a new eight-story parking facility, makes the Natick Collection the twelfth largest mall in the country, fourth largest on the East Coast, and the largest in New England.
The south-western section of the mall along route 9 is currently undergoing the second phase of expansion called the Natick Promenade. The construction of a Cheesecake Factory finished shortly after the completion of north side addition and work on a new, two story Crate and Barrel store and three to four other stores are scheduled to begin construction in April 2008 with a projected finishing of September 2008. The third phase, the construction of the condominiums, is underway with a projected completion of Summer 2008. The final phase, the addition of a ten to twelve story luxury hotel adjacent to the new wing and across from JC Penney, is still in the planning phases with a projected start of spring 2009. Initial site work has been completed and the site is awaiting finished designs.
[edit] Anchors
- J.C. Penney (210,000 sq. ft.) (opened as Jordan Marsh, converted to Macy's 1996, closed in favor of Filene's 2006, reopened as JCPenney 2007)
- Lord & Taylor (115,000 sq. ft.)
- Macy's (210,000 sq. ft.) (opened as Filene's, converted to Macy's 2006)
- Sears (190,000 sq. ft.)
- Neiman Marcus (112,000 sq. ft.)
- Nordstrom (144,000 sq. ft.)
[edit] Major stores
- Apple Store
- Burberry (5,424 sq. ft.)
- Tiffany & Co. (5,295 sq. ft.)
- Zara (9,000 sq. ft.)
- Calvin Klein (13,000 sq. ft.)
- Louis Vuitton (3,637 sq. ft)
- Gucci (5,005 sq. ft.)
- Bottega Veneta (2,700 sq. ft.)
- Hugo Boss (6,011 sq. ft.)
[edit] See also
- Southdale Center - the first enclosed shopping mall in the country
- Shoppers World - located adjacent to the Natick Collection
