One day after a Boston developer bought the rundown Greendale Mall in Worcester, the new owner plans to replace the 32-year-old shopping center with a mix of retail, apartments, and office space.
“It’s rare to get your hands on 23 acres in such a perfect location,” Todd Finard, the CEO of Finard Properties, told the WBJ. “Worcester is a very exciting place to be, it has lots of energy, and we want to be part of its phenomenal growth.”
On Monday, Finard bought the 309,000-square-foot mall for $7.1 million.
[Related: Greendale Mall sold to Boston developer for $7.1M]
Under a proposal expected to emerge over the next year, Finard said the mall would be demolished to make way for apartment buildings, medical offices, and retail.
But don’t expect a covered mall. The era of enclosed shopping centers has passed, Finard said. The public has embraced places like Northborough Crossing and MarketStreet in Lynnfield with apartments, a health clinic, medical offices, and retail.
The zoning around the Greendale Mall at the junction of Interstates 290 and 190 near downtown allows for buildings up to 100 feet, or six or seven stories.
Finard said the precise number of apartments, the amount of square feet for medical office and the mix of retailers has not been determined. But he said, like MarketStreet, he wants the new center to serve the nearby neighborhoods.
“If we do this right, my hope is what we build will be an amenity for the Greendale neighborhood,” he said.
