Marlborough councilor's zoning change proposal aims to reinvigorate mall property

MARLBOROUGH — With brick-and-mortar retail facing several economic pressures, City Council Chair Mike Ossing is proposing a zoning change for the area around the Solomon Pond Mall that would allow for alternative uses to be considered, including multifamily housing.

Ossing is proposing to change the zoning around Donald Lynch Boulevard, in northwest Marlborough near the Berlin line, to permit for more uses beyond its current zoning, which is for limited industrial use.

He presented the zoning change proposal during the council's meeting on May 20. He said he believes the city needs to be proactive in making sure the area around the mall has enough flexibility to thrive as the retail sector evolves.

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“We're reading the tea leaves — the malls are in trouble, and that's a big parcel," Ossing said. "We’ve already lost Sears, you see JCPenney and Macy’s on the news, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see changes there. And if you walk through the mall, you can see they're struggling to keep folks in there and keeping it vibrant.

"We want to make it so that it's a destination. We’ve seen other malls around the area and around the country get transformed.”

Proposed zoning changes would permit — by right — restaurants, drive-thrus and residential properties. Ossing said that by adding flexibility, that section of the city can remain an attractive spot for commerce and other activities in Marlborough.

“We're looking at changing some of the zoning for height, curb cuts, lot sizes, and so you can now build a fast food restaurant, and carve out a portion of the parking lot, so it is now closer to the street,” Ossing said. “We've seen other malls include residential areas, such as the Natick Mall with their apartments, and we’ve seen other malls even create townhouses.”

The proposed zoning changes target the entire area in Marlborough north of Interstate 290 and west of Interstate 495, which also includes several office buildings, hotels and other commercial areas.

Solomon Pall Mall has been in receivership

According to a letter the council recently received from Boston law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP, the 900,000-square-foot Solomon Pond Mall is in receivership. The receiver of the mall, which has not been named, is seeking ways to make the area in and around the mall more financially viable.

“Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP represents the receiver for the Solomon Pond Mall," the letter states. "As you have no doubt observed, significant portions of the Mall have been vacant over the last several years. As the receiver evaluates the opportunities to reinvigorate the Mall property, we have reviewed the proposed Zoning Overlay with an eye toward (a) avoiding creating nonconformities for the existing Mall property and (b) creating the ability to redevelop portions of the Mall while retaining other portions of the Mall.”

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Jim Ward, an attorney with Nutter McClennen & Fish, confirmed to the Daily News that the mall is in receivership, and that the law firm is trying to work with the city to make sure that zoning changes would be beneficial to making the property more valuable, which includes changes around the mall area.

"From the receiver's perspective, the thinking is that anything that takes place around the parcels would benefit the mall," Ward said.

The mall, which opened in 1996, was owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. But according to Meredith Harris of the Marlborough Economic Development Corporation, the mall went into receivership and has been operated by its creditors for the past several years.

Receivership occurs when an entity defaults on its loan payments, allowing a secure creditor to take over operation of the entity as a way of recovering the money it's owed.

Several quirks complicate proposed zoning change

The official listed owner of the mall is Mall at Solomon Pond, LLC, which has a mailing address of a PO Box in Carlsbad, California. The receiver has hired Syracuse, New York-based Spinoso Real Estate Group to manage and lease the mall.

The 90-store mall is currently anchored by JCPenney, Macy’s and Regal Cinemas; Sears, a former anchor tenant, closed in 2021. The property has several unusual quirks that make potential redevelopment complicated, according to Ossing.

One is that some of the mall's largest spaces are owned by the businesses that occupy them, including JCPenney and Macy’s. That means those companies possess control over what would take place in terms of redevelopment at those sites.

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Another quirk is that the mall encompasses land in both Marlborough and neighboring Berlin almost equally, meaning that zoning changes decided by Marlborough can only impact its half of the mall.

“We have been communicating with Berlin and trying to work together, but ultimately we can only control what we can control here in Marlborough,” Ossing said.

Harris said the city is looking to work with the mall to develop a plan that works for both sides, but it will probably be a while before any changes take place.

"We are open to ideas and we want to work with the mall to find a balance as to what the city envisions is going to be there, but also what is going to work for them," she said. "I think the council is interested in hearing ideas in what other malls have done to be successful. It will probably be years before you see any changes — we can put the zoning in place and it takes a while for something to happen."

Ossing's proposal was sent to council’s public affairs committee. There will be a public hearing before it gets taken up again by the full council.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Marlborough city councilor proposes zoning changes for shopping mall