Somerville Infill and Small Developments

I think the plan is for Taco Loco to move into the empty store next door (west side of site).

Yup, they are moving next door and also expanding to open a bakery as well from what I heard. Last time i walked by the menu's seem to be up, so they are getting close.

I like the proposal too, looks great.
 
I have to walk over to take pics one of these afternoons, but the High School main building is now framed out with steel.

Unrelatedly; anyone know what's going on with the Somerville Home Assisted Living? 117 Summer St near Central Street. The property is vacant and fenced off. Looks like it's going to be gutted if not demo'd.
 
I have to walk over to take pics one of these afternoons, but the High School main building is now framed out with steel.

walk by it with the dog a few times a day. also the gilman square green line station is (slowly) coming together, as well.
 
Woof. Though I guess it's no worse than its surroundings. We should always advocate for better, but I can't imagine this spot will ever be anything but a traffic clogged cluster in the shadow of an elevated highway.

💁‍♂️ Yeah, it's just more infill and is about as bad/good as its neighbour on the Fellsway West side of the block. It's really only a matter of time before Mystic Ave gets some sort of boulevard with bus lane treatment.

346 Somerville Ave at Union Square looks like much-needed density here, though it's a shame they couldn't lay out the building to sprawl more lengthwise through the site to offer a street wall at least as tall as the buildings on this block. I guess the greenspace on the backside is a nice gimme to the neighbours. The front looks nice. The inset balconies and decorative cast stone details really set it above the other buildings on this block.
 
346 Somerville Ave is being developed by Elan Sassoon, who is also proposing a nearly identical building fronting Gilman Square Station on Medford Street. No submitted plans for that second building yet but he's held a couple of neighborhood meetings.
 
"Were the street layouts just planned 10+ years ago?"

Yes.
 
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The same builder did the same glacial build out with the other two hotels in Porter.
 

Looks like Scrape has come forward with their plans to build 250 units on their Davis Square properties. Nothing submitted, just the neighborhood meeting so far.
The article mentions keeping The Burren open during construction, and people questioning why they were getting special treatment over the other retail establishments
 

Looks like Scrape has come forward with their plans to build 250 units on their Davis Square properties. Nothing submitted, just the neighborhood meeting so far.
The article mentions keeping The Burren open during construction, and people questioning why they were getting special treatment over the other retail establishments

Couldn't have anything to do with the *massive* public outcry that ensued the moment The Burren was considered to be under threat.
 
Couldn't have anything to do with the *massive* public outcry that ensued the moment The Burren was considered to be under threat.

To be fair, the article says it was a Sligo bartender who asked, so biases all around :). Scape has learned its lesson in Fenway, though. Ask the neighbors first, promise below-market leases for everything. Sounds like some of these businesses were on their last years anyway.

I worry about breaking up the streetfront here - this is a lot of narrow buildings being replaced by one monolith. Varying facades with some depth would be nice.

Just as at 275 Beacon, I'm dubious that denying residents the right to buy city services is even legal. That's not a happy trend. What's next - appeasing residents' concerns about adding kids to the school system by forcing residents to eschew public schools in the lease?
 
To be fair, the article says it was a Sligo bartender who asked, so biases all around :). Scape has learned its lesson in Fenway, though. Ask the neighbors first, promise below-market leases for everything. Sounds like some of these businesses were on their last years anyway.

Thanks for that context; I didn't read the article...

I worry about breaking up the streetfront here - this is a lot of narrow buildings being replaced by one monolith. Varying facades with some depth would be nice.

PLEASE. Hopefully the city has similar input in that regard.

Just as at 275 Beacon, I'm dubious that denying residents the right to buy city services is even legal. That's not a happy trend. What's next - appeasing residents' concerns about adding kids to the school system by forcing residents to eschew public schools in the lease?

Yikes. Don't give municipalities any ideas.
 
TOD infill next to upcoming East Somerville station:

 
I tend to agree with the sentiment behind the restrictions on parking permits: If you have access to off-street parking, you don’t need an on-street permit.
 
I tend to agree with the sentiment behind the restrictions on parking permits: If you have access to off-street parking, you don’t need an on-street permit.
"Denying residents the right to buy city services is even legal." Residential parking permit programs are legal, and pretty common throughout Somerville (residential permits can park anywhere, with available zones and only 2-visitor passes per household). The process would just be to create a more restricted residential permit neighborhood, then limit the number of available spaces per parcel.
 
That 121 Washington site looks really small. There was the whole brickbottom plan that came out with a planned increased density here.

Any word on progress at the old Cobble Hill Plaza? It was seized last year, and there was some talk of making it a "demonstration district" with a new police station.

EDIT: Forgot how detailed this plan was!
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