Retrofit Atlas

Big boxes · Massachusetts

Filene's landmark flagship store

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedReinhabitedRetrofit builtBoston, MA

Rebuilt 2006-2015 site with housing/office/retail mix; median rent $2,069; 1km from Lafayette Place Mall. · summary, model-written

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Site profile11 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors
Filene'sThis site: Filene's wikipedia · all sites with this
Filene's BasementThis site: Filene's Basement wikipedia · all sites with this
Place
3+ other atlas sites within 10 kmThis site: 9 within 10 km computed · all sites with this
County typical rent $2,000+This site: $3,190/mo zillow · all sites with this
Shrinking countyThis site: -1.2% census-acs · all sites with this
Strategy
RedevelopedThis site: …upscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, and tony residences. Havas and Arnold Worldwide on its upper floors. In the second half of 2015,… record · all sites with this
ReinhabitedThis site: …upscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, and tony residences. Havas and Arnold Worldwide on its upper floors. In the second half of 2015,… record · all sites with this
New use
GroceryThis site: Worldwide on its upper floors. In the second half of 2015, supermarket Roche Bros. and Primark, an Irish clothing retailer, opened newtypes-extraction · all sites with this
HousingThis site: …new_use field newtypes-extraction · all sites with this
OfficeThis site: …new_use field newtypes-extraction · all sites with this
Retail (continued)This site: …upscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, and tony residenc newtypes-extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

StatusRetrofit builtnewtypes-extraction
StrategyRedeveloped · ReinhabitedWikipedia
New useshousing, office, retailWikipedia
What is there nowupscale shopping destinations, high-dollar business space, and tony residences. Havas and Arnold Worldwide on its upper floors. In the second half of 2015, supermarket Roche Bros. and Primark, an Irish clothing retailer, opened to occupy the ground floor of the Burnham Building.newtypes-extraction
RedeveloperVornado Realty Trustnewtypes-extraction

Deals and debt

DateEventPricePartiesSource
2006Sold$100.0M closedVornado Realty TrustWikipedia

Site context

Housing permits, Suffolk County (MA), 20241,771 units in 5+ unit buildings, 162 in 2–4, 74 single-family; 2023: 2,288 in 5+Census BPS
Other atlas sites nearby9 within 10 km, 20 within 25 km: Orchard Gardens (0.0 km); 15 Court Square (0.1 km); 85 Devonshire St. (0.1 km); Lafayette Place Mall (0.6 km); Assembly Mall (4.3 km)computed
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20232,298 establishments (-5%); 40,614 jobs (+26%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical home value $738,589 (+0% 1 yr, +8% 5 yr); typical rent $3,190/mo (+2% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research

Summary, model-written

Filene's flagship department store closed in 2006. Vornado Realty Trust purchased the site for $100M that same year. The site was redeveloped into housing, office, and retail space. By 2015, the Burnham Building (part of the site) housed Roche Bros. supermarket, Primark, and offices for Havas and Arnold Worldwide.

Why. The site is fully built (not under construction). Median rent is $2,069. Housing is confirmed in the record. It is located 1km from Lafayette Place Mall (a similar redeveloped site).

Where it stands. Current housing market data (ZHVI $738,589, ZORI $3,190) is sourced from Zillow (2026-09). Nearby developments include Orchard Gardens (0km, built) and 15 Court Square (0.1km, approved).

For a planner

  • No active permits for new construction (2023-2024 data shows completed units)

For a developer

  • Confirmed tenant mix (retail, offices, housing). Median rent metric provided. No unmet needs noted in record.

What we do not know yet

  • No current vacancy rates provided. No details on housing unit types or office occupancy. 'Upscale' and 'tony' are descriptive terms from the record but not quantified.

Generated by qwen3-30b-a3b-64k:latest on Dell 5820 RTX 3090 (Ollama, qwen3-30b-a3b) from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

  • Lafayette Place Mall, Boston, MA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop, reinhabit; also in MA; 1 km away
  • Arsenal Mall, Watertown, MA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop, reinhabit; also in MA; 8 km away
  • Atrium Mall, Newton, MA · Malls · same strategy: reinhabit; also in MA; 11 km away
  • Cambridge Discovery Park, Cambridge, MA · Office parks · closed 2002; same strategy: redevelop; also in MA

Elsewhere on the web

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Multifamily screen

  • retrofit already built
  • median rent $2,069
  • housing in the record

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Closed2006newtypes-extraction
AnchorsFilene's, Filene's Basement
CountySuffolk County
Census division1 · New England
NotesDraft from Wikipedia, model-extracted, unreviewed: Former Filene's department store redeveloped into mixed-use with retail, office, and housing, and the historic Burnham Building reinhabited by new tenants.

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, year opened, original developer, retrofit year. Know it? Tell us.

Timeline

  1. 2006 Filene's landmark flagship store closed
  2. 2006 Vornado Realty Trust purchased the site
  3. 2006 Closed
  4. 2015 Burnham Building occupied by Havas, Arnold Worldwide, Roche Bros., and Primark

Sources

  • Downtown Crossing · CC BY-SA 4.0
    4 quoted sentences
    Filene's landmark flagship store
    in early 2006 the Filene's landmark flagship store was closed.
    In 2006, Vornado Realty Trust announced the purchase of the former Filenes site for $100m.
    In 2015, the historic Burnham Building (see Filene's Department Store) where Filene's flagship previously resided became occupied by Havas and Arnold Worldwide on its upper floors. In the second half of 2015, supermarket Roche Bros. and Primark, an Irish clothing retailer, opened to occupy the groun

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