Arsenal Mall, Watertown, MA

As a kid Arsenal Mall was my absolute favorite I don’t know why because the tenant mix really wasn’t the best for most people but I loved everything about this mall.

Arsenal Mall opened in 1983 as Arsenal Marketplace and was developed by New England Development, across the street from Watertown Mall. The mall was built in two original arsenal buildings and were connected by building a expansion to connect the arsenal buildings. Arsenal Marketplace opened with a Marshalls, Filene’s Basement, and Ann & Hope which closed in the early 2000’s. The mall was renamed Arsenal Mall which I still refer to it as (after two name changes). Home Depot took the back section of Ann & Hope and Linens N Things took the section with a mall entrance. Simon Property Group brought the mall in 1999 as a deal with New England Development that included many malls including Atrium Mall, Greendale Mall, Solomon Pond Mall.

The mall’s food court included the scoreboard from the original Boston Garden before the arena was torn down and rebuilt. The food court was renovated and the Foot Locker that was in the food court renovated their exterior to match the sports theme.

In 2013 Simon thought it be a nice idea to sell the mall which is odd because I remember the two times I went to the mall when it was under Simon it was very busy and Simon isn’t afraid of redevelopment. I mean just look and Nanuet Mall and Northgate Mall. Either way the mall was bought by Wilder, Boylston Properties, and  Jonathan Bush who is part of the Bush Family. They renamed the mall to The Arsenal Project as

a “translational” name from Arsenal Mall to Arsenal Yards. In 2016 plans were made public to transform the mall into Arsenal Yards which I will make a separate post for because I believe that doesn’t have a space in the Arsenal Mall article. In January, 2017 the Watertown Planning Board approved the complex. In late 2016 Golfsmith closed due to bankruptcy. Express and Yankee Candle closed around the sane time. In May, 2017 the name was officially changed from The Arsenal Project to Arsenal Yards. In April, 2017 Forever 21 closed which was a big blow because the size of this store about the size of Marshalls in this mall. In May Bath & Body Works closed along with Victoria’s Secret. In July they were preparing to demolish the wing that connects the to Arsenal buildings. So many of stores were closing. Old Navy closed in July although being in one of the two Arsenal buildings. In September Charlotte Russe, Gymboree Outlet, and Famous Footwear closed due to the demolition. In December they started interior demolition and in January they started demolition. The food court stayed open until New Year’s and after that Ann Taylor Factory Store, Gap Outlet, Chipotle remained open until January, 2019. However they kept the original mall entrance open for Marshalls because they don’t have an exterior entrance until April and in May built a new entrance for them and that all that is left of Arsenal Mall.

I am actually sad that this mall is gone. I find it so interesting that Marshalls was the first and last store I will say Arsenal Yards is great but I still miss the old mall. I have many memories so let me tell you some. I remember the last time I visited when it was all connected how depressing and empty it was sad. I specifically remember outside of Yankee Candle was the worst section for some reason you could really hear the old lights buzzing. That was right before Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy which opened in 2011 after Filene’s Basement. I remember the first time I went it was packed like weekend busy which was strange because it was a Thursday night in December which might have been why but still seemed strange.

This was never a prime mall in Boston and think the reason why is because Boston has about five major malls that the whole city and metro areas go to and it’s a hard retail market to break into these malls are Northshore Mall, South Shore Plaza, CambridgeSide, Burlington Mall, and Natick Mall. This was a nice substitute for Watertown due to the fact that Natick and Burlington aren’t the closest. Even though CambridgeSide is the town over its on the other side of town. Prudential Center and Copley Place don’t have regular stores. Same goes for Chestnut Hill and Watertown Mall is just strange

One thing I noticed is that Arsenal Mall and Greendale Mall in Worcester have many architectural similarities like a mall level and a food court level, brick work similar size. Now you might be think that might be a coincidence but I don’t think so because this mall was opened in 1983 and Greendale opened in 1987 and are developed by New England Development who is the same company that developed Arsenal. That mall is also very dead.

Here are my pictures of Arsenal Mall from 2018 and 2019 sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.

2018:

2018