SOMERVILLE, MA – August 3, 2005 - Charter Realty & Development Corp. is pleased to announce it has completed its renovation and expansion to Twin City Plaza located at 22 McGrath Highway on the Cambridge/Somerville line. The redevelopment has been in progress for the past five years while Charter has worked its way through the permitting process with the Cities of Somerville and Cambridge, the Metropolitan District Commission (now Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation), and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As part of the process, Charter assembled additional land parcels from the Commonwealth as well as private landowners adjacent to the Plaza.

"This process has been a collaborative success," says Karen Johnson, Charter’s Director of Development. "Unquestionably, the myriad of development hurdles was daunting but everyone wanted to make it work. We are very pleased with the outcome."

The redeveloped project includes the addition of more than 50,000 square feet of retail space, an entirely new façade designed to integrate the old portion of the center with the new construction, as well as a newly expanded parking area. New site infrastructure including lighting and landscaping have provided an additional one hundred parking spaces. The approximately 15 acre site sits less than one mile from downtown Boston and draws from a trade area which includes Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, and Charlestown. The redevelopment has made this property the premier community shopping center destination in the East Cambridge/Somerville area. The neighborhood will soon be enhanced by the North Point project, which will include a new MBTA station for the nearby Lechmere stop, now under construction just south of the Plaza.

"Over the period of time we have been involved in this project we have watched a neighborhood transform," says Paul Brandes, Principal of Charter Realty & Development Corp. "The Plaza has seen customers return to this area that have been traveling elsewhere for many years. The addition of the Plaza’s new tenancies and enhanced appearance has had a great deal to do with this. We are certain that as the neighborhood gentrification progresses it will continue to generate interest from new residents and businesses at a very fast pace," he added.

The retail portion of the Plaza has added a new 65,000 square foot Shaw’s Supermarket in place of the 30-year-old former Star Market. The former 35,000 square foot configuration would not allow for Shaw’s to add all of their current in store departments. They now have a Wild Harvest natural food section, a Shop The World international section, a Happy Tails pet section, and their other newest departments. Overall the store has undergone a complete transformation and now represents their current state of the art prototype. This grocery store is the closest store to downtown Boston residents that provides its customers with a large surface parking lot to more easily complete their larger shopping visits.

Working with the City of Somerville, an urban blend of design features was incorporated to both the front and rear facades. This addressed the City’s desire to create a focal point, which would serve as the gateway to Somerville along the McGrath Highway corridor. "We’re delighted to have a high-quality supermarket like Shaw’s invest in Somerville," said Mayor of Somerville Joe Curtatone.

Shaw’s President Nicola DiFelice said, "We are proud to bring this new and improved shopping experience to our customers. This new store captures the essence and breadth of the Shaw’s experience from the product selection to the store design and layout. We also want to thank the community for being patient while we completed this important project. We believe this is one more example of how we are helping to make our customers lives easier each and every day."

In addition to Shaw’s, several other new tenants enhance the cross shopping experience. The most exciting of the new tenants is a 40,000 square foot Bob’s store (the first in the Boston metro area). Bob’s has recently opened in its new space, which is the former location of a two story Mars Music building. In order to make this location work for Bob’s new configuration, two building additions were added to expand the total ground floor area by 15,000 square feet.

A new 20,000 square foot K & G Fashion Superstore (a division of Men’s Wearhouse) is also an exciting addition to the Twin City Plaza. Rounding out the retail tenant mix at Twin City Plaza is a newly renovated Brooks Drug, and a new Dollar Tree store. This store represents Dollar Tree’s entry into the Boston metro area. In addition, a newly renovated and expanded Gold’s Gym has been added to the property on its lower level. Some of the additional retail tenants include Dots, Sally Beauty, Bank Of America, Papa Gino’s, Hollywood Express Video, Sewfisticated Fabrics, Mattress Giant, Dunkin Donuts, Supercuts, and Pearl Vision Center. The project also includes 40,000 square feet of mini-storage space operated by Extra Space Storage.

Within the Plaza, 40,000 square feet of newly renovated office space is being created. The office space is currently undergoing a renovation with remodeled common areas and the construction of a new elevator lobby for the facility. This mixed use environment provides office tenants the ability take advantage of convenient access to the shopping center, ample surface parking, and use of the adjacent Gold Star Mother’s Park in East Cambridge.

For Immediate Release: Contact Lisa Lazarczyk 781-646-0205 or lazpr@sbcglobal.net

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Charter Realty & Development Corp. is a real estate company devoted to activities associated with the shopping center industry.  It's operating area is primarily the East Coast of the United States.  Charter Realty & Development owns or operates more than 55 shopping centers throughout the East Coast.  Founded in 1993, Charter has maintained a balanced business strategy devoted to Shopping Center acquisition, development, and leasing throughout the East Coast. Charter's niche as an entrepreneurial owner/manager is complemented by its ability to service the retail real estate needs of institutional owners, developers, investors, as well as the chain stores themselves.