Union Square Somerville Infill and Small Developments

I knew that redevelopment was coming, but with some of those massing diagrams... 200+ feet in Union Square? Wow. That'd be a sight to see.
 
How tall is the apartment building on Warren St? Not close to 200', but I think it's the tallest building in the square.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
How tall is the apartment building on Warren St? Not close to 200', but I think it's the tallest building in the square.
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It's something like 10-12 stories so probably not much more than 120'. So we'd be looking at something almost twice as tall. Pretty sure they'd have to re-zone the area around the T station as well cause last I checked that area only allowed as high as 100'.
 
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Tonight at 7:30 at the old post office is the final day of a 3-day charrette to design a new Union Square neighborhood plan. This is the next step out of this document (http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/UnionSquareRevitalizationPlanFINAL_0.pdf), which identified the parcels for redevelopment and led to the hiring of US2. This week's sessions were more specifically about things like a CBA, specific long-term roadway improvements, open space brainstorming, etc.

For city planning geeks, it doesn't get much better than this, if I do say so myself.

Article about some local opposition.
http://boxborough.wickedlocal.com/article/20150310/NEWS/150319569
 
Morifen said:
Also, it's weird they are using '197 Union Square' instead of '197 Washington St'.
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I'm guessing it's to hide the fact that it's not in Union Square at all but a rather unpleasant walk away on a very narrow sidewalk that's puts you inches away from a busy travel lane for cars.
 
aaaaaa said:
Huh? 197 Washington is definitely Union Sq. It's a 5 minute walk to the geographical center of the square and even less to the shops, restos, and bars (e.g. Casa B) that are considered to be in Union Sq.
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Nobody disputes that the apartments are walking distance from Union Square - albeit a crappy walk that makes it feel more removed than it is distance wise. The problem is that a lot of businesses in the area actually use Union Sq in their address. This makes sense seeing that it can be confusing to determine what street they are on due to the layout of the area, not to mention the fact that unlike these apartments all these businesses are you know, *in* the square. Casa B, for example, could justify using "Union Sq" instead of a street though interestingly they still say Washington St.

The apartments at "197 Washington" however have no such confusion associated with where it is, and thus has no justification to make up fake addresses as a marketing gimmick. Clearly somebody thought "you know this Union Square is gonna be a hip new gentrifying place so let's get it in our name somehow!" It's almost as if they are worried that the apartments might seem too distant if they don't really drive home the point - "no really, I know it looks like shitty overpasses and busy wide roads but I swear Union Square is just around that bend! We even put it in the name!"

It's going to get even more confusing when the two T stops open and this one is way closer to "Washington" and not "Union".
 
pixelsand8 said:
Nobody disputes that the apartments are walking distance from Union Square - albeit a crappy walk that makes it feel more removed than it is distance wise. The problem is that a lot of businesses in the area actually use Union Sq in their address. This makes sense seeing that it can be confusing to determine what street they are on due to the layout of the area, not to mention the fact that unlike these apartments all these businesses are you know, *in* the square. Casa B, for example, could justify using "Union Sq" instead of a street though interestingly they still say Washington St.

The apartments at "197 Washington" however have no such confusion associated with where it is, and thus has no justification to make up fake addresses as a marketing gimmick. Clearly somebody thought "you know this Union Square is gonna be a hip new gentrifying place so let's get it in our name somehow!" It's almost as if they are worried that the apartments might seem too distant if they don't really drive home the point - "no really, I know it looks like shitty overpasses and busy wide roads but I swear Union Square is just around that bend! We even put it in the name!"

It's going to get even more confusing when the two T stops open and this one is way closer to "Washington" and not "Union".
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There's only 4 buildings between these condos and the old Union Square post office.
It's hardly that crappy a walk, the sidewalk narrows a bit in front of the two residential buildings.
Union square is a more desirable address from a sales point of view.
The Condos will be a bit closer to washington st. T station but the state of the junction at McGrath would lead many people to head to the union station.
Either way, these condos are in Union Square and the name change for marketing purposes is hardly a big deal.
 
Ruairi said:
There's only 4 buildings between these condos and the old Union Square post office.
It's hardly that crappy a walk, the sidewalk narrows a bit in front of the two residential buildings.
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Narrows a bit? How often do you walk this section? Maybe as just a single guy walking alone it's ok but I do it with a dog sometimes and I fear for our lives. I shudder to think if I was physically disabled or had children with me. If a car skips a curb there is absolutely nowhere to go. Even taking out the danger element it's just unpleasant to have a high speed travel lane right next to you with no parking or breakdown lane buffer. Maybe every once in a while this wouldn't be a big deal but if you move here you presumably would do the walk at least 2-3 times per day. The aggravation will add up. On top of that the two non residential building are auto shops with wide open asphalt (horrible for hot weather) and massive curb cuts forcing you to look for turning cars.

Look if you think it's ok for this building to call itself "Union Square", I don't agree but that's a subjective opinion and I can see your argument as having merit. However, there is no way you can convince me the walk from this building to the businesses in the square isn't dreadful and possibly dangerous. Maybe one day things will be different. Perhaps the auto shops will be redeveloped and the road will be narrowed to one lane and traffic calmed. Until that happens though, this walk is pure garbage and while that might technically be a "subjective" opinion of mine, it's about as close to the cold hard truth as one will ever find on such a matter.

Or put it another way, ask 100 people if that's a pleasant walk. 98 will say "no". One who says "yes" works on the developer's marketing team. The other posts to archboston.org. :grin:

The Condos will be a bit closer to washington st. T station but the state of the junction at McGrath would lead many people to head to the union station.
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I actually think it'd be more preferable to go underneath McGrath and avoid the deathtrap that I described above. It's not pleasant but there are crossing signals you can use.
 
pixelsand8 said:
Or put it another way, ask 100 people if that's a pleasant walk. 98 will say "no". One who says "yes" works on the developer's marketing team. The other posts to archboston.org. :grin:
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I walk it twice a day, it's not pleasant, I never said it was, it could do with widening but I've never feared for my life. Also theres a pedestrian crossing outside the new building site that takes you near the front of the police station, nice wide path there.

Frankly the splash page with the stock hipster photo on their site is more upsetting to me.
 
Ruairi said:
Also theres a pedestrian crossing outside the new building site that takes you near the front of the police station, nice wide path there.
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Have you ever tried using that crossing? I have, and the number of cars that stopped for me to let me cross can be counted on zero hands. The crossing might well not exist. Plus it's not like the other side of the road is some pedestrian mecca. It's still a pretty narrow sidewalk all the way across Rickey's Flowers to the large intersection of Somerville Ave and Prospect. At least if you stay on the north side you can escape after the post office into the square.

Ruairi said:
Frankly the splash page with the stock hipster photo on their site is more upsetting to me.
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No arguments from me on this one.
 
Alex said:
the planning staff report: http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/d...on - Staff Report REVISED 7-5-2013 (POST).pdf
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Was glancing through that doc and noticed this graf:

The Applicant has submitted a phasing plan. Ideally both buildings will be constructed at the same time. However, one building could be constructed before the other due to unforeseen circumstances. If the SCC building was built first, the Cota Struzziero Funeral Home, circular driveway, and ancillary parking would remain. The SCC building would use the existing curbcut on Washington Street to access their surface parking lot. If the CPI building was built first, the existing Boys and Girls Club would be demolished. There would be surface parking accessible from Washington Street and landscaping in the
location of the proposed new structure.

The CPI building (the market rate one) is currently under construction. However, the B&GC hasn't been demolished. Maybe it's just a week or so off.
 
No pictures (I always forget!) but Somerville and Parsons Brinckerhoff came out with the revised interim streetscape improvements for the square today.

Wins all around for multimodal travelers (except bus riders). Construction scheduled for July-Dec 2015.

Highlights:

-Two-way traffic on Webster and Prospect.
-Inbound bike lane on Prospect; outbound lane on Webster; sharrows on opposite sides of the street.
-New bike lanes on Somerville Ave and Washington St east of Webster. Lanes go kinda-sorta to McGrath where the MassDOT McGrath project takes over.
-Various medians and islands blown out to accommodate new 2-way traffic and bike lanes.
-New crosswalks and pedestrian crossing timing on lights.
-Bus routes remain the same
-Major sewer and other water rehab work through this year and next year. It will be a total nightmare, but necessary. Once the pipework is done there will be a review of the interim measures and start work on "long-term measures" once construction begins on the T stop and new buildings.


Plans will eventually be on http://www.somervillebydesign.com/planning/union-square/
 
^ I don't know what would make the situation better for bus riders, other than signal priority for certain routes. For the 87/85, the pedestrian at-will crossing signal that's 50' from the main intersection is a huge issue; but other than that, I'm not sure how to appreciably improve the bus routes ahead of the Green Line's arrival.
 
Yes, that's exciting. And also the longest Eater article I've ever seen. Rachel must be friends with the chefs
 
Today I also noticed Yuki Shabu - Sushi has put a sign over the former Union Sq Donuts space next to the post office:

http://boston.eater.com/2015/4/15/8422165/yuki-shabu-sushi-introduces-itself-to-union-square

Apparently Yuki is by the owners of the nearby Thai place - anyone know if/when they are slated to open? According to the article they haven't even applied for a license yet, though that was posted Apr 15.

PS Yeah, that Juliet's article is definitely the longest Eater article I've ever seen.
 
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