After 25 years, plans take shape for unused land on former Polaroid campus

The Main Street property that currently includes the Market Basket shopping complex may soon include up to 500 additional residential units as part of a planned northward expansion, if the city approves a rezoning request from the developers.

Plans call for eight new buildings at the site, two of which would together contain 300 to 350 residential units with underground parking. The other buildings would include a 155-room hotel and commercial space for restaurants, retail, offices and fitness facilities, according to a proposal presented to city officials in December.

The site’s owner, 1265 Main Street LLC, did not respond to a request for more details about its plans for the site.

At a Dec. 15 Ordinances and Rules Committee meeting, Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan said the shopping center had a good relationship with The TJX Companies. Inc., the corporate parent of Marshall’s and HomeGoods, both of which have locations in the Market Basket complex, and said some of the company’s other retail brands would be good additions for an expanded 1265 Main St.

The site today

The site of the proposed development is not currently zoned for residential construction. Site owner, 1265 Main Street, LLC has asked the city to create a zoning overlay district that would allow both residential and commercial construction.

This is one of three such requests before the City Council. The two other proposals come from real estate company BXP Inc., which wants similar “Mixed Innovation and Residential Redevelopment” Overlay Districts for two of its own properties.

The City Council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee has been working with 1265 Main Street LLC since December on what the fully -built development would look like. The committee expects the company to deliver a more in-depth plan later this month. 

25 years of unfulfilled plans

The 94.44-acre site once housed the corporate campus of the Polaroid company. 

After Polaroid announced it was selling the property in 2000, the lot sat unused for many years. It passed from company to company in the face of foreclosures, market downturns and scrapped development plans. 1265 Main Street LLC, which is also called J&Co. in city documents, bought the property in 2011. 

The company has developed a significant portion of the site. Market Basket and TJ Maxx are among the retailers, restaurants and service shops located there.

When Market Basket opened in 2015, 1265 Main Street received praise from city leaders such as Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy for relocating power lines and dedicating 20 acres of the site to become a park. 

During that initial development phase, 1265 Main Street had said it would begin developing the site’s north end in late 2015 or early 2016. Since then, the company has proposed further development plans influenced by state studies of the region, with its revised plans now including office, retail, fitness and hotel space as well as housing. Last year it appeared in front of the City Council and the Historical Commission for permission to create a six-story hotel on the property. 

Richard Brackett, a managing partner at The Federal — one of the restaurants currently located in the plaza — said that his business has been looking forward to proposed residential development since it started in 2018. He says that, from a business perspective, having new housing so close to his restaurant is a “major league win.”

The Federal’s branch location on Moody Street, the Stazione di Federal, gets a lot of business from neighbors within walking distance who make the restaurant a part of their routine, he said. For the same reason, more people living or staying in hotel rooms near The Federal would be a real boon to the business.

“It adds a neighborhood component to the complex,” Brackett said. “Adding [that] to that space, to that complex, would add traffic seven days a week.”