More than a year after the zoning for Watertown Square was approved, City officials are preparing to begin the creation of two detailed plans to revitalize the Watertown Square commercial area, and to redesign the intersection. The project includes changes gto the roadway and intersection, as well as building on the parking lots in the Square.
Discussions about the future of Watertown’s major intersection began in November 2023 with the multi-day design charrette, and continued through 2024 with the approval of the new zoning in July 2024, known as the Watertown Square Area Plan (click here to see the approved plan).
During 2025, the work has been internal within the City’s Department of Community Development and Planning, in conjuction with consultants, to come up with a Revitalization Plan and designs for the new intersection in the Square, according to the City’s announcement about the implementation of the Watertown Square Area Plan. The two projects will take place at the same time but separately.
Revitalization Plan
The most recent decision about the Plan took place in September 2025, when the City Council voted to proceed with a Demonstration Project focused on redeveloping the parking lots behind CVS, the Watertown Library, as well as ones behind office buildings in the area.
What exactly will be built on the parking lots has not been determined, but a parking garage and multi-story residential buildings were discussed during the Watertown Square Area Plan process.
“A Revitalization Plan is a legal process, regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that communities undertake to investigate an area and determine the development potential of parcels and the steps required to implement the redevelopment vision,” the announcement said. “These plans are done by cities and towns to address community driven goals like housing, economic development, and the environment. The outcomes of these plans are a set of strategies of how and where to invest public funds in order to promote the private development and growth envisioned by the town or city through the planning process.”
The Demonstration Project would be a public-private partnership, for which the Council has the power to do because it was given the powers of a redevelopment authority by the State Legislature in 1987, City Manager George Proakis confirmed in September.
The Demonstration Project will be the first step in implementing the Revitalization Plan, and looks at the potential redevelopment of a smaller portion of the redevelopment area to “explore what is feasible and what barriers to development exist.”
“To put simply, a Demonstration Project is a Revitalization Plan on a much smaller scale before Innes Land Strategies and the City complete the Revitalization Plan for the entire Watertown Square Area,” the announcement said.
Work on the Demonstration Project is expected to take place in the early part of 2026, with the Revitalization Plan work running through 2026, according to the announcement.
Intersection Redesign
Meanwhile, planning to implement the vision for the Watertown Square intersection in the Watertown Square Area Plan known as the “Four Corners” will be developed into detailed roadway drawings by the City’s consultant, Bowman Consulting Group.
Known as both “streetscape design” and “engineering design” the work is “a very technical process that designs everything from the traffic network to the curb cuts,” the announcement said. When complete, a set of construction documents will be created to make the Four Corners a reality.
“This work is expected to take up to 24 months, which will produce a 100% completed detailed design for the future roadway, sidewalks, streets, traffic network, bike and bus lanes, and a detailed outline of the utilities that exist underground. Roadway construction cannot begin until the engineering design is completed and funding sources are identified,” the announcement said.
The Four Corners plan will focus on improving getting through the Square in multiple ways: by motor vehicle, on public transportation, on bicycles, and by foot. The plan includes removing one of the five spokes going into the intersection, Charles River Road, to improve how traffic flows through the crossroads.
The amount of asphalt will also be decreased by removing lanes from the intersection and turning the areas into more public open space, including increasing the size of the Delta in Watertown Square. On part of that new area on the Delta, retail pavilions have been proposed along Main Street.
The objectives of the Watertown Square street redesign, according to the Watertown Square Area Plan, include:
- A decrease in the amount of roadbed as a percentage of the total area of the public right-of-ways
- A more logical and intuitive street network that is easier for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists to safely navigate
- A corresponding increase in public open space both within the Delta and between the reconfigured streets and the Charles River, equaling approximately 3.4 acres
- Wider sidewalks, including the stretch of Main Street between Merchants Row and Mt. Auburn Street, and the important Mt. Auburn/Main Street corner
- The introduction of parallel parking, important for the success of sidewalk-activating retail and to create a buffer between cars and pedestrians and protected bike lanes
- A simple four-way intersection that reduces signal phases and pedestrian crossing times
Find out more about the Watertown Square Area Plan, the Revitalization Project and Watertown Square redesign on the project website, watertownsquareimprovements.com. The City also released the first episode of a podcast focused on the Watertown Square Area Plan hosted by Project Manager and Watertown’s Director of Community Design, Erika Oliver Jerram and the City’s Community Engagement Specialist, Tyler Cote. Listen here.