Ms. Sandell, who described herself as 50-something, said she had not planned to relocate from her 2,400-square-foot town house in Wayland, but she could not resist the chance to live in a downtown atmosphere yet still remain in the suburbs. She bought a 1,700-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath condo; three-bedrooms are listed from $800,000 to over $1 million.

Residences at the 12-story Natick Collection range in price from $425,000 to $1.6 million, depending on size and location (some have views of the Natick wetlands). Buyers are given a private entrance to the mall, along with access to a gym and Club Nouvelle, a social club with a screening room, game room and wine bar. Perhaps the most coveted amenity is a private parking spot, erasing the misery of searching for a car in a sea of parked cars.

The development group is banking on what it perceives as women’s love of shopping at the mall, so its target market is decidedly female. Tamara Roy, the architect of the project, loaded the design with what she feels are women-friendly features, like full-length mirrors in the bathrooms, curving plaster walls and flowers dotting the facade of the parking lot.

Still, women are not the only ones excited about the development. “We were calling them, hounding them to get in last February before they even opened up the sales office,” said Michael DuGally, 39, the president of an office furniture company. Along with his wife, Kellie, 37, the president of an online media distribution company, he bought a penthouse unit for $1.6 million.

New residents see the development as the best of both worlds, with a downtown downstairs. “It’s like having the city come out to the suburbs,” Ms. Sandell said.

The DuGallys’ new home is a five-minute drive from their favorite yoga studio and a five-minute walk from California Pizza Kitchen, neither of which they had in their industrial loft in the suburb of Everett. And living at the mall, so close to the Massachusetts Turnpike and Route 9, cuts their commute in half.