CambridgeSide Mall Revitalizes East Cambridge

In the food court at the CambridgeSide Galleria, a woman with a black Prada bag sits sipping a capuccino from Au Bon Pain, while at the next table two teenage boys in baseball caps and T-shirts snack on hamburgers and fries from Arby's.

Like the surrounding area, the mall is a study of contrasts.

J. Roger Boothe, director of urban design for the city, has dubbed the mall the "centerpiece" of the city's project to revitalize East Cambridge.

In a cooperative effort between Cambridge and New England Development, a Newton-based design company, the mall's designers hoped to transform the depressed factory district into a thriving new industrial and commercial park.

Catering to a wide range of patrons, the mall features a diverse collection of stores ranging from the preppy J. Crew to the brawny Harley-Davidson Motorclothes.

The shopping center's clientele includes local office workers, corporate executives, college students, tourists and "typical suburban shoppers," according to Stephen B. Sigel, general manager of CambridgeSide.

But many East Cambridge residents say they wish the mall did not draw so many tourists and visitors to their historic neighborhood. And many say they fear that the shopping center has attracted a criminal element.

"Since the Galleria came in, there has been a lot of trouble," says longtime East Cambridge resident Charlie Watson, who lives on nearby Cambridge Street. "This used to be the safest part of the city. Now there are break-ins and handbag snatches."

"There is a hell of a lot of crime," says Richard J. Vendetti, the president of the East Cambridge Planning Team, a local neighborhood council, and coordinator of the East Cambridge Crime Task Force. "It seems to be mainly contained in the mall, but I am sure that some of it flows into the neighborhood."

Robert Zabala, a Somerville resident and the warehouse manager at PCs for Everyone, a computer store on nearby 24 Thorndike Street, agrees that the mall brings crime to the neighborhood.

"It does draw a lot of the urban element who wouldn't otherwise be there," says Zabala, who has worked in the neighborhood for five years.

'We have to watch out. We have had laptops stolen right out from the store."

But Cambridge police and the mall's administration say the shopping center experiences an average level of crime, and deny that the mall has increased crime in the East Cambridge.

"Crime is something that happens in an urban environment," says Stephen T. Karp, chair of New England Development, one of the largest mall development companies on the East Coast. "We have had relatively few issues [with crime] in the mall. I am not aware that we have had any major problems there."

An Urban Experiment

Since its opening in 1990, the shopping complex has given the once-decrepit area an "accessible feeling," Boothe says.

Located close to the Lechmere T-stop and serviced by a free shuttle running round trips from Kendall Square, Karp says the mall is a modern approach to the downtown shopping center. He adds that the mall offers city-dwellers the basic shops and services of the local village square.

The three-story mall, with approximately 80 stores, a food court, three restaurants, an express driver's license renewal center, the New England Sports Museum, a car wash and teller machines, is situated alongside the Lechmere Canal at 100 CambridgeSide Place, tucked between the Lotus Office Building and the Haviland Candy, Inc. factory.

At the request of the city, New England Development designed the first floor of the mall as an extension of the street, with pavement-like floors and pushcarts.

The adjoining neighborhood, East Cambridge, is bounded by the Charles River, the commuter rail tracks on Warren Street, Broadway Street and the border of neighboring Somerville. According to Boothe, the development of this area on the Cambridge side of the Charles River is still guided by a 1978 city report dedicated to reclaiming "a very run-down area."

The early projects outlined by the 1978 renewal plan included the restoration of the Lechmere Canal and the creation of a 16-acre park around the canal. The mall's food court now opens directly onto the tree-lined circular end of the canal, complete with a fountain.

Construction on CambridgeSide and three large condominiums begun more than a decade after the 1978 report.

The mall is built on the site of the original Lechmere department store, a branch of which is still found at CambridgeSide. There was also a liquor store and a casket company. The three buildings, Sigel says, formed the heart of pre-renewal East Cambridge.

Karp says the original goal of the mall development was to "integrate an urban project with the community and with some new condominiums...to create a substantial tax base for the community."

The mall was intended to "architecturally blend in" with the area, according to Karp, who says the mall is "an urban project unmatched" anywhere in the United States.

Karp says his company met repeatedly with neighborhood groups to discuss plans for the mall. The only time he remembers disagreeing with local residents was during a debate about the planned construction of a cinema complex at Two Canal Park, a plot of land also owned by New England Development.

Cambridge School Committee member Joseph G. Grassi, an East Cambridge resident, says the community opposed the plan because of fears that the cinema would lead to traffic congestion and would bring in outsiders at night, potentially increasing the crime rate.

Karp says his company dropped the project as a result of the community opposition to the cinema.

Two Canal Park now stands empty, with grass growing in the remains of an old building's concrete foundation.

An office complex is planned for the site, a project which meets the approval of many area residents.

'Making Waves'

But the attempts of the mall's management to maintain good relations with its neighbors have not been as effective as the compromise over the cinema complex.

Many East Cantabrigians have publicly expressed their concern that the mall has become a center for crime. A number of locals say the mall's management does not adequately police the mall and the area surrounding it.

"Although the management of the Galleria would say that it spends three to four times as much on security at the Galleria as they do at other malls, they do very little security outside the buildings," says Alfred B. Fantini, a Cambridge School Committee member who was born in East Cambridge and now lives on Canal Park.

But sigel says CambridgeSide provides a bike patroller outside the mall and has created a satellite police station in the facility's garage, which, he says, has not been used much by the city police.

Further, he adds, the mall employs a security officer who patrols the shopping center and the surrounding area, including the parking garage, on a cart.

CambridgeSide's management has made a great effort to gain input from the community regarding its operations, Sigel adds. But he says that if residents do not contact him with concerns about crime, he "can't do a heck of a lot."

Recent Disturbances

The perception that the mall has increased crime in the area was furthered by a shooting across the street from the main entrance of the shopping center on May 8.

Detective Patrick G. Nagle of the Cambridge police says 19-year-old Othega J. Mooney of Somerville was shot at 7:10 p.m. outside of the mall.

No suspects in the shooting have been apprehended as of last week, according to Frank T. Pasquarello, public information officer for the Cambridge police.

Police do not believe the crime was associated with the mall, according to Pasquerello.

Many residents, however, say they are hesitant to spend time at the mall after the shooting.

"I think any citizen would be very nervous about going there if they feel there could be a potential shooting at any moment," says Timothy J. Toomey, a member of the City Council and a participant in the East Cambridge Crime Task Force.

Sigel maintains, however, that the local media incorrectly reported the story by suggesting the crime took place at CambridgeSide, although it actually occurred on a separate property.

Other recent incidents have occurred inside the mall itself. The Boston Globe reported that on October 5, 1995, a man with a pipe attacked an armored-car employee at the mall.

Ed Gavin, loss prevention manager at the CambridgeSide Sears, says that on October 14,1995, a man with a mask and a gun attempted to hold up the cash office at the department store.

The Cambridge police apprehended the unsuccessful thief, Gavin says.

But these crimes and what some store managers have called a high rate of shoplifting have led to frustration and concern among many CambridgeSide workers.

"Lately, the shoplifting has been right out in the open," says Gary A. Proulx, the store manager at the mall's Gap clothing store.

He adds that CambridgeSide is so unsafe he would not allow his mother to meet him there at night.

"This mall has always had problems, it was always a target for heavy theft," Proulx says.

Other store managers say they believe the mall is mainly subject to petty crime.

"The majority of those who shoplift are really young," says Tracy Cara, store manager at Contempo Casuals. "We don't get hit by grand larceny; we know what to look for."

Cara says she believes the mall's security is superior to that of many other area shopping centers.

"In comparison to other malls, security is better; it seems to be more visible," she says. "When we call them, they are right here."

Gang Activity

The greatest concern among citizens and CambridgeSide managers is that gang members have made the mall their hang-out.

"The shooting has raised a number of questions about gang activity," Grassi says. "There is graffiti on the streets near the mall, on the public transportation going to the mall. It tends to allude to a group of individuals marking their territory."

Other local representatives agree that graffiti in the area surrounding the mall complex is evidence of the presence of gangs.

"Gang members have staked out the area," Fantini says. "At Two Canal Park, you see a dilapidated fence and see markings of gang members; all of that suggests gang activity."

The fence around the vacant lot at Two Canal Park is decorated by the murals of schoolchildren, but their drawings are often marred by spray-painted names and words.

Vendetti says he believes gangs spend time at the park in CambridgeSide in addition to the mall itself.

But police say the mall is not a hang-out for gangs.

"Nobody has taken over any part of Cambridge," Pasquarello says." You are going to get gangs anywhere, but there are no entrenched groups [at CambridgeSide]."

Sigel adds that many might mistakenly believe large groups of youths who visit the malls are gang members. "I think that whenever people see large groups of kids, they think that is a gang," he says.

Gavin says he personally believes gang activity used to be a problem in the mall, but that security has now effectively eliminated the presence of gangs. He acknowledges, however, that many store managers at the mall still cite gang activity as their chief security problem.

One mall employee, who asked not to be identified, says that although he believes gangs have been expelled from the mall, packs of youths continue to "run rampant" during the day when they should be in school.

Like many other concerned citizens, Toomey says the Cambridge police need to step up its patrols in the area.

"Security has to be bolstered inside and outside of the mall to deal with security concerns," he says.

A Good Neighbor?

Although some residents say the shopping center has brought more crime to the area, others say the mall has benefited the community.

"The entire East Cambridge riverfront has been a very worthy undertaking by the city," Grassi says. "It has had a lot of positive impacts; it is aesthetically pleasing."

"The Galleria has helped the neighborhood, provided some jobs, convenience," Vendetti agrees.

Sigel says the mall has donated $250,000 towards a scholarship fund for local East Cambridge students. Vendetti adds that the mall typically gives out $13,000 to $18,000 each year to area residents to help defray the cost of college tuition.

Laurence J. Ward, who moved to Six Canal Pond from his birthplace in Maine, says he experienced more problems with traffic and crime in his 40,000-person community in Maine than in living near the mall.

"The mall is no problem as far as I am concerned," Ward says. "I think it has done a lot of good for the neighborhood. The mall is a pretty good neighbor."

But others say some of the neighborhood's character has been lost in the development of the area.

What many have called a "family-oriented" neighborhood with a population mainly composed of recent immigrants--Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans and Portuguese-Americans--is now increasingly composed of "Professional people," Vendetti says.

He says he is concerned that the changes he saw in the South End of Boston will repeat themselves in East Cambridge. "I am afraid of what I saw there; the poor moved out and the rich came in."

"People are kind of leery about the future...about what the neighborhood might become," he says.