The Natick collection's multi-million dollar condominium investment fails.

-NATICK

 Golden letters spelling out Natick Collection glitter in the sun. The multi million dollar investment  adds to the already imposing Natick mall has cast a shadow of local businesses for years. Despite the allure of the Natick Collection’s condominium complexes, the investment has failed. A bankruptcy filing by Dimeo Construction Company had made the failure official. The condominiums were designed to bring in high-end clientele for the stores inside the Natick Collection. Stores like Neimen Marcus and Nordstrom opened in hopes of bringing high end shopping to the area. That strategy was unsuccessful.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Natick Collection has not done any damage to the actual town of Natick itself, says Patrick Raffet, the Natick community development chair. “No financial damage has been done to the town as far as I’m concerned. The Natick Collection was paramount into a new image that the town of Natick was attempting to achieve.

The $23.7 billion dollar bankruptcy claim is no surprise to many in the area. According to an article on www.Boston.com by reporter Megan Mckee, the article states that General Growth who financed the condos, and finances over 200 malls in 44 states could not keep up with their payments, and had to end the project because it got out of hand.

Natick shows that the town has a relatively successful economic background. The housing market is healthy. The median household income for a family of four was amongst Massachusetts’s wealthier towns, standing at $89,546 compared to the state average of $64,509.

The goal of The Natick Collection was to provide more income and consumers to a town that really did not need any revitalization at all. The local movie theater, AMC 16, has been attracting people for more than 25 years. The high volume of shoppers on Route 9 and in the Shoppers World complex has provided business with many customers.

Steps to clear the condominiums have been taken. Construction workers have been mobilized to tear down the vacant buildings and new developmental plans are being discussed internally. The foreseeable goal would be to accentuate The Natick Collection, but the weakened economy might prohibit that development.

The style of condominiums were built by Dimeo are called Nouvelle condominiums and they can be found in high-end neighborhoods around Boston, especially in the Back Bay neighborhood. The idea was to bring that sense of Bostonian class to the Metro west area, making access to exclusive store like Neimen Marcus and Nordstrom.

To couple the high end shopping with luxurious condominiums failed to produce the revenue that was originally intended. The town of Natick has remained relatively unscathed and members of the town as well as contractors are going to move on from the failed experiment.