Location Saugus, Massachusetts No. of stores and services 115 | Opening date August 17, 1994 No. of anchor tenants 5 | |
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Developer New England Development Corporation Owner Simon Property Group (49.1%) | ||
Square One Mall (formerly the New England Shopping Center) is a 115 store shopping mall located along US Route 1 (Broadway) between Main Street and Essex Street in Saugus, Massachusetts.
Contents
The mall was a $100 million project undertaken by New England Development Corporation to redevelop the former New England Shopping Center which consisted of Sears, Service Merchandise and the former General Cinemas which had closed in the mid-1980s. The construction of the mall was unique since it incorporated the previously built structure of Sears, signs of this being the difference in building materials between Sears and the rest of the mall. The mall opened for business in Summer August 17, 1994.
The mall is credited with bringing sprawl and strip development to Saugus, especially along the Route 1 corridor. Route 1 through the area is a 6 lane highway (3 lanes in each direction) with a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h).
Filene's Basement, one of the malls former anchors, filed for bankruptcy protection on May 4, 2009. New York’s Crown Acquisitions, made a bid to buy Filene's Basement including their famous Downtown Crossing location which closed in 2007. All Filene's Basement stores closed in December 2011. A model of the planet Uranus is located in the food court, as part of the Boston Museum of Science's scale solar system model.
Anchor stores
The mall's anchor stores are Macy's, Sears, TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and BD's Furniture. TJ Maxx was originally in a space built for Lechmere, but has since moved to a space formerly occupied by Filene's Basement.
Bus connections
Along with a large parking lot, the MBTA services the Square One Mall with the following MBTA bus routes:
The 131 has been proposed to be extended from its current route between Malden and Melrose to the Square One Mall. As of now Melrose residents can only access the mall by car or by taking a bus in the opposite direction to Malden Station and then transferring to the 430.