EXCLUSIVE: Planned Tewksbury Shopping Complex Hits Snag

TEWKSBURY, MA-The development of an 805,000-sf enclosed mall and entertainment complex here is facing a major obstacle. There is no access road to the 38-acre site.

Tewksbury town manager David Cressman tells GlobeSt.com that the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission is presently undertaking a study regarding the construction of a $35-million interchange on Route 93 between the Dascomb Road and the Route 125 exits. It would bring shoppers to the complex once it opens in the spring of 2008 or the fall of 2009. The interchange has been proposed for more than 20 years to relieve congestion in the Andover, Wilmington and Tewksbury area.

"It's just one part of the process," Cressman says of the study. Some $9 million in federal funding has already been approved for the roadwork, he says.

But a spokesman for the Massachusetts Highway Department tells GlobeSt.com that other approvals are needed before the interchange can be built. He says the roadwork still needs to win the support of state and federal highway and conservation officials before construction can start. "It's a long, involved process."

The Mills Corp. of Arlington, VA plans to begin construction on a multimillion-dollar shopping complex, called Tewkesbury Mills in the spring of 2007. Plans for the project call for the creation of a two-level enclosed shopping mall and entertainment center, including a theater complex and a two-surface ice skating facility. Mills officials declined to comment on whether the company plans to move forward with the construction project--its first in the Bay State--prior to the approval of the interchange.

In addition to opening up the 35-acre mall site for development, the interchange would also funnel traffic to several area office complexes and businesses and open up the area to future development. For additional information on other issues Mills is facing, click here