The popular Natick Mall recently celebrated a major milestone and the culmination of a multi-year effort as the new mall at Natick Collection officially opened to shoppers. The new mall represents one aspect of Natick Collection, a bold move to reshape the already well-known shopping center into a vibrant mixed-use community, complete with luxury boutiques, specialty stores, and fine dining and entertainment, as well as two residential towers with 215 luxury condominiums and a 1.2 acre private rooftop garden.
The expansion has added 550,000 s/f to the existing 1.1 million s/f mall, anchored by a new Neiman-Marcus and the first Nordstrom to open in Massachusetts. The project, including renovations to the existing mall, and several new parking structures, totals over 2 million s/f and employs over 1,000 construction workers on a daily basis. Dimeo Construction Co., a New England builder and construction manager, has provided preconstruction planning and construction management services to General Growth Properties (GGP) since the plans for the project first began to take shape more than two years ago.
This is not the first time that General Growth has teamed up with Dimeo; the foundation of this relationship was built a decade ago when GGP selected Dimeo to build the 1.1 million s/f Brass Mill Mall at the site of the old Scovill Brass Works in Waterbury, Conn. Frank Allard, project executive for Dimeo Const., and Tim Gardels, sr. vice president and James Young, vice president for General Growth, worked together on the Brass Mill project, an experience that has helped make their efforts at Natick such a success.
Brad Dimeo, president, said that the firm has built a reputation for quality and for building a clientele that returns for future projects. "We are so pleased to be working with GGP again. The scope and complexity of the work at Natick Collection is a challenge that we were excited to take on. With retail renovations, a massive mall expansion, multiple parking areas, twin residential towers, and a rooftop garden all under construction simultaneously, in a busy occupied mall environment, planning and communications are critical to safe, successful operations. The experience and skill of our team are a complement to the trust and respect that Tim, Jim and Frank have earned from each other. This is the end result that we strive for on all our work, and what has enabled us to achieve this major milestone on the very day scheduled more than two years ago."
When shoppers enter the mall they will find 100 new luxury stores and fine restaurants. What they will not see is the 1,200 tons of reinforcing steel, 34,856 cubic yards of concrete, or the 7,200 tons of structural steel. The 28,100 s/f of skylights will admit natural light, reflecting off the 1,399 strands of anodized aluminum "leaves" simulating glittering birch groves. While visitors to the mall will enjoy the spacious and natural feel of the interior as they walk below the huge arched skylights, one day soon, residents of the new condos will also enjoy an open air rooftop park that will be built around the teardrop shaped structures.