By Scott Van Voorhis - Boston Herald
Monday, January 9, 2006 - Updated: 02:48 AM EST
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WESTWOOD -- Westwood Station, a project that would be even bigger than the Fan Pier development slated for the Boston waterfront, is projected to cost more than $2 billion and would be one of the largest developments ever seen in the Boston are.
Mall king Steve Karp, dean of the local development world with a fortune made from building shopping plazas, has teamed up with veteran Boston high-rise builder Jay Doherty on a sweeping plan for 4 million square feet of new stores, restaurants, condos and corporate suites next to the University Avenue commuter rail station just off Rte. 128.
That's enough to fill four Prudential towers, and would dwarf Boston's $1.2 billion Fan Pier plan.
And the pair may soon have competition.
Media mogul Sumner Redstone is eyeing a formidable retail, dining and cinema complex to replace
the aging Dedham Showcase, just a few miles up the highway at the intersection of routes 128 and 1.
The moves have the potential to create two large retail magnets -- surrounded by housing, offices and other development -- in a booming stretch of suburban Boston that some believe could support more malls.
But it also raises questions about whether the area could easily handle a crush of additional traffic.
"There is stiff competition for some of the retail tenants, but the area can support a goodly number of national retailers, in some cases new to this market," Doherty said.
The competition now is not very strong, with only aging malls in a broad arc south along Rte. 128 from from Boston to Walpole -- the Dedham and Walpole malls. Those who want a full-scale shopping experience now have to trek to the South Shore Plaza in Braintree or the Chestnut Hill Mall on Rte. 9.
Still, Karp, despite his background, said he has no intention of rolling out a traditional shopping
complex.
Instead, he is eyeing a lifestyle center of outdoor upscale shops -- part of a larger neighborhood of 1,000 new condos, as well as two hotels and a million square feet of corporate offices. With the project dubbed Westwood Station, Doherty, who has put together the larger development blueprint, envisions a full-fledged residential and commercial addition to Westwood that would have its own distinct character.
The developer recently wrapped up the purchase of most of the more than 130 acres needed for the grand plan. Working closely with town officials, permits are in hand to begin work in a matter of months.
"We are going to create a very different sense of place than has ever been created in the greater Boston landscape," Doherty said.
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