DON'T SET A BAD PRECEDENT! Stop Developers from Increasing CambridgeSide Building Heights by 82% by Marlene Lundberg and Rafi Mohammed

Sign the Petition HERE:www.cambridgepetition.com/ 

New England Development (NED) is petitioning the City of Cambridge to rezone the CambridgeSide Mall area to allow high-rise buildings that are 82% higher than current zoning regulations. Retail space will be scaled back, some housing will be added (market & affordable) ‐ but the vast majority of total square footage will be devoted to lucrative office and lab space which rent for roughly over 500% higher than the current retail space.
NED’s key argument for rezoning the CambridgeSide area is to “save the Mall” due to the impact ecommerce has had on brick & mortar retailers.
By staying within its current zoning ‐ maintaining the two core floors of Mall as retail and converting the rest of the square footage (plus garage) to offices/labs ‐ the gross upside in value is as high as $1.2 billion. If the 82% increase in building height is approved, the gross upside in value of the Mall area skyrockets to as high as $2 billion+. Note: these figures do not include costs; NED has been asked to provide its cost estimates and it has declined.

• Why is it necessary to increase building heights by 82% to save the Mall?
• Why can’t the Mall be saved within current zoning code?

Key additional costs to residents include: increased traffic jams (the nearby courthouse may turn into a 20 story office building and right down the street, Cambridge Commons is adding 4.5M square feet of offices and residences), loud noise from labs, heightened potential for the infrastructure to fail (e.g., Eversource reports that electricity demand reached 98% of all-time peak in East Cambridge last summer) and importantly, adding hi-rise office buildings will significantly alter the harmony of both the Mall and its historical neighborhood.
Even if you don’t live in this immediate area, the final decision on the Mall redevelopment zoning will set a precedent that will likely affect you and your neighborhood in the future.

ContactCo-chairs Marlene Lundberg and Rafi Mohammed are both residents of the Canal Park neighborhood. Our goal is to bring neighbors and the greater Cambridge community together to protect the architectural and urban planning harmony of one of the loveliest spots in the city, Canal Park. We are also concerned about the costs to Cambridge residents of worsening-by-the-week rush hour traffic at Land Boulevard and Route 28, as well as the need to build additional infrastructure to support increasing development.
In the coming weeks, we hope to engage our Cambridge residents in conversations about NOT setting a building height upzoning precedent that can harm all neighborhoods in the city.
Please use this form to reach out with questions, comments, requests, ideas, or concerns.
Thank you!