Reviewer advises that Reading mall is a ‘feasible project’
Published on November 16th, 2005
READING - A peer reviewer hired by the town to look at a supplemental traffic report regarding a proposed 400,000 square foot ‘lifestyle’ retail center, with an estimated 40-50 retail stores, at the site of the former Addison-Wesley publishing company at One Jacob Way has recommended that the project be accepted as a ‘feasible project’.
The report, prepared by John Diaz, an Assistant Vice President with Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. of Stoneham, recommended that the supplemental traffic study, prepared by Edwards and Kelcey for the developer, S.R. Weiner & Associates, Inc. and its development affiliate, W/S Development Associates LLC, be approved by the town to begin the MEPA process and preparation of a detailed Traffic Impact and Access Study based on an expanded project area.
The entire project would be subject to MEPA and MassHighway review.
The Board of Selectmen have yet to decide if they want to proceed to the next step in the process, which would involve a public hearing with the Board, the Community Planning and Development Commission, and the community itself. The Selectmen are tentatively scheduled to discuss the matter on December 6.
In a written report to Town Planner Chris Reilly, Diaz writes that the improvements made to the design plan for the Main Street at South Street intersection in the supplemental traffic study have been modified to improve both vehicle operations and safety.
The following is a list of changes present in the new study:
oThe northbound approach has been expanded to provide two dedicated left turn lanes, as well as two general purpose lanes;
oThe signal phasing has been changed to provide a ‘protected-only’ left turn movement northbound entering the site;
oThe southbound on-ramp to I-95 has been increased to two lanes. Diaz feels that this will reduce congestion and queues at the South Street intersection by providing access to I-95 southbound from the far right and center lanes approaching South Street;
oA median island on the easterly side of South Street would be created, physically prohibiting the through movement eastbound from South Street;
oThe southbound left turn would also be prohibited;
oThe vehicle queues along the eastbound approach will be accommodated along
the Addison-Wesley site drive and, according to Diaz, will not adversely impact the South Street or Main Street operations. He writes that "the signal proposed at South Street and Jacob Way will act to meter the exiting traffic and facilitate the movements from South Street to Main Street.
Diaz writes, "Overall, we feel comfortable that the current design of the intersection will sufficiently accommodate the anticipated traffic associated with the Addison-Wesley facility. Furthermore, the modifications to the intersection will provide improvement to the safety of the interaction when compared to the current design."
Diaz stated last night that right now, the area has a traffic level service rating of B (Level of Service B is the zone of stable flow, with operating speeds beginning to be restricted somewhat by traffic conditions. Drivers still have reasonable freedom to select their speed and lane of operation), and that with the new development the Level of Service would remain at B on weekdays, and go down to Level C (Level of Service C is the zone of mostly stable flow, but speeds and maneuverability are more closely constricted by the higher volumes) on Saturdays and major shopping holidays.
Members of the Board of Selectmen questioned the numbers used during the review, but Diaz stated that they were standard numbers used throughout the industry when reviewing these types of studies.
Site background and project background
According to its website, S.R. Weiner & Associates, Inc. and its development affiliate, W/S Development Associates LLC combine to form one of the leading real estate development and management corporations in New England. They are a diversified company specializing in the acquisition, development, management and redevelopment of retail properties, and their in-house capabilities include permitting, construction supervision, financing, leasing, property management and marketing.
W/S Development Associates LLC is a partnership dedicated to the development of lifestyle centers, community centers, power centers and specialty centers throughout the Northeast.
S.R. Weiner has been recognized in many of the leading real estate publications, such as Boston Business Journal and Shopping Center World. The April 2004 issue of Boston Business Journal acknowledges S.R. Weiner as the eighth largest commercial developer ranked by square foot in Massachusetts.
The April 2004 issue of Shopping Center World ranked S.R. Weiner number 39 nationally according to GLA owned. The company’s retail portfolio includes seventy community shopping centers and three enclosed regional malls throughout New England, totaling approximately 11.6 million square feet.
Currently, the companies are in various stages of developing new centers and redeveloping/expanding existing centers in excess of 5.9 million s.f. of retail space.
The proposed Reading shopping center (which would be called Park Square at Reading) would be home to between 40 and 50 upscale retail shops. The company recently developed the Derby Street shops in Hingham, which features the following stores (officials have said at previous meetings the client list at the proposed Reading site could be very similar to this one):
American Eagle
Ann Taylor
Barnes & Noble
Bread & Circus
Coldwater Creek
Express
Kohl's
Panera Bread
REI
Talbots
Victoria's Secret
Williams Sonoma
The Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, founded in 1942, moved from Cambridge to a specially-designed plant along Route 128 in Reading in April, 1956.
The company required expansion, and by 1982 it site grew to contain 23 acres, housing three interconnected buildings and three free-standing buildings. Addison-Wesley was acquired by Pearson plc, a British firm, on April Fool’s Day, 1988, and the company eventually moved much of its staff to New Jersey, keeping only the higher education branch in Reading until the mid-1990s, when it moved out of the site completely, shifting its operations to downtown Boston.
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