Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

That project on Mass Ave between Economy Hardware and Mary Chung's is the Central Square Theater. Their website is www.centralsquaretheater.org and it has some renderings.

MassAvebyReedFinal.jpg


The three story structure on the right and the setback glass entrance are both new construction. I'm glad this project is underway, since that site is prime central square property and has been empty for at least the last four years.
 
If it really comes out looking like that, it'll be just the kind of modest and appropriate project we're almost always looking for.
 
What will be on the upper levels of the three-story building at right?
 
Here's the site of the theater project. The smaller building on the site's northwest corner has been gone for some time.

siteiw1.jpg


Here's the site from Mass Ave.:

massaveje2.jpg


. . . And from Green Street:

greenstreetjj0.jpg


According to the sign on the Mass Ave. side, the site is owned by MIT and will have 11,500 sq. ft. of retail space and 4,500 sq. ft. of office space for lease. Should be a vast improvement over the previous parking lot and mound of dirt. :)
 
So the building with the hip roof will be a reconstruction of a structure formerly on the site?
 
ablarc said:
So the building with the hip roof will be a reconstruction of a structure formerly on the site?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I've lived in Cambridge for almost five years, and since that building shows up on Google maps, I guess I must have seen it before it was demolished. But I can't remember what it was. Anybody know?
 
ablarc said:
So the building with the hip roof will be a reconstruction of a structure formerly on the site?
Click to expand...

Looks like you're right. According to the brochure on the theater's website:

Central Square Theater will occupy more than 9,000 square feet in a larger building being developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of the project, MIT will restore the presently vacant Bradford building, the oldest structure in Central Square.

The Central Square Theater will house a 175-seat black box theater with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems and flexible seating as well as rehearsal space, dressing rooms, box office, lobby, control booth, workshop, offices, and storage space.

Set in from the historic fa?ade of the Bradford Building, the theater will be announced by a prominent marquee that will draw patrons from Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street into a lively courtyard that precedes it.

And here's an MIT news article about the project: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/centralsq-theater.html
 
econ_tim said:
ablarc said:
So the building with the hip roof will be a reconstruction of a structure formerly on the site?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I've lived in Cambridge for almost five years, and since that building shows up on Google maps, I guess I must have seen it before it was demolished. But I can't remember what it was. Anybody know?
Click to expand...

The building was demolished this spring. It had been covered by green mesh for quite sometime. Apparently, the state of this building was behind much of the controversy surrounding the development of the theater -- the City of Cambridge wanted MIT and the theaters to preserve the building ... MIT was arguing that the building was too far deteriorated to preserve. Of course, as this argument droned on for years, the building fell into further disrepair, and it appeared that MIT finally won because the building was demolished.

I think the quote from the brochure is old ... like I was saying, this project has been proposed for some time.

I'm completely in agreement that this project will be an asset for Central Square. It is in an underutilized area of Central Square which is receiving attention (both in the Mass. Ave. reconstruction and in the completion of University Park, and the Novartis renovation of Necco and the subsequent new construction), it has two eager theater participants lined up, plus the institutional support of MIT. Its a shame that the bickering over the preservation of the old building (which eventually caused the final demise of the old building) prevented moving forward with this for so long.
 
ckb said:
econ_tim said:
ablarc said:
So the building with the hip roof will be a reconstruction of a structure formerly on the site?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I've lived in Cambridge for almost five years, and since that building shows up on Google maps, I guess I must have seen it before it was demolished. But I can't remember what it was. Anybody know?
Click to expand...

The building was demolished this spring. It had been covered by green mesh for quite sometime. Apparently, the state of this building was behind much of the controversy surrounding the development of the theater -- the City of Cambridge wanted MIT and the theaters to preserve the building ... MIT was arguing that the building was too far deteriorated to preserve. Of course, as this argument droned on for years, the building fell into further disrepair, and it appeared that MIT finally won because the building was demolished.

I think the quote from the brochure is old ... like I was saying, this project has been proposed for some time.

I'm completely in agreement that this project will be an asset for Central Square. It is in an underutilized area of Central Square which is receiving attention (both in the Mass. Ave. reconstruction and in the completion of University Park, and the Novartis renovation of Necco and the subsequent new construction), it has two eager theater participants lined up, plus the institutional support of MIT. Its a shame that the bickering over the preservation of the old building (which eventually caused the final demise of the old building) prevented moving forward with this for so long.
Click to expand...

Does anyone have an image of the original building? For all the fuss it must have been pretty impressive.
 
It was my impression that fundraising, not a controversy over the structure, delayed this development.
 
here's the colorful building at binney and fulkerson

purplefr0.jpg


and the backside

backsidehu4.jpg
 
yesterday.. two pics of the two projects on Prospect Street

img7176ef1.jpg


for those who remember (see the bottom of page 1 of this thread for a refresher), I originally thought that the house/duplex at the right of the below picture would get demolished like the other two structures that were once here, but I obviously thought wrong.

img7177aw4.jpg
 
Kp, what's going in the foundation of your last photo?

I walked from Central to Inman along Prospect yesterday and was underwhelmed. Too many surface lots and gas stations...the street feels like it lacks definition in many places.
 
czsz, I don't know any of the specifics on what's going in there, but I'd assume it'll be similar to the other building going up on that street.
 
czsz said:
I walked from Central to Inman along Prospect yesterday and was underwhelmed. Too many surface lots and gas stations...the street feels like it lacks definition in many places.
Click to expand...
That stretch is one of Cambridge's disgraces. Good place for a streetcar line?
 
A short Central-Inman-Union trolley or at least BRT would not be a bad idea. The three-lane status of Prospect is awkward, anyway. The line could even be extended through Cambridgeport and over the Charles to the Green Line, or down Mass. Ave. to provide a one-seat ride from Harvard.
 
That's kinda one of the plans for the Urban Ring, depending on whether it runs through Harvard Sq. or Kendal Sq.
 
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