Somerville Infill and Small Developments

pixelsand8 said:
Somerville Warehouse Highrise to be Converted into Apartment Building


Google Streetview link
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view from Monsignor O'Brien overpass


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Curious to know how thick those walls are. Old cold storage buildings like this tend to have some of the thickest walls known to man and are quite expensive to cut openings into.
 
kz1000ps said:
Curious to know how thick those walls are. Old cold storage buildings like this tend to have some of the thickest walls known to man and are quite expensive to cut openings into.
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Interesting query, one to which I myself have no idea, but at least the sound insulation will be top notch!
 
Construction on this has been going on forever in the Tannary Brook lofts off the bike path between Davis Sq and Mass Ave. No idea what the end result will be.

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It's part of the Davis Sq Lofts.
 
JohnAKeith said:
Berkeley Investments started construction on a $10.5 M, 34-unit apartment building at 625 McGrath Highway in Somerville. Paving the way for the project, it recently closed on its $2.25M purchase of the former Highland Auto Parts store site. Berkeley's three-level, townhouse-style project will have studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units in sizes from 650 SF to-1,100 SF and will be priced between $2.40 SF/and $2.90/SF per month.
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Pretty uninspiring I must say but at least it's um, bright;

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Looking down Richdale from School in Gilman Square you had this quirky building.

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aaaand it's gone.

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Do you recall what the 'quirky' building was used for?

I've biked through there hundreds of times, yet somehow never noticed it until it was suddenly gone.
 
^ Probably offices for a contractor or something.
 
Ron Newman said:
Do you recall what the 'quirky' building was used for?

I've biked through there hundreds of times, yet somehow never noticed it until it was suddenly gone.
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Mirabella Electrical, Plumbing, Heating according to google maps. I noticed it just because in fronted directly on the street and had a rather vibrant color. I'm sure whatever replaces it will be more appropriate for the neighborhood. I think there was a coffeehouse with apartment buildings planned for this lot.
 
Plans call for five. One on first floor opposite the "coffee shop." Two each on second and third floors. I know the City is also actively pursuing redevelopment of two other parcels in this neighborhood. ABJ Auto, across from the new Sarma restaurant, is in talks about selling. City planner told me they are also confident the Xtra Fuel parcel could be redeveloped in the next few years. However, the prospects for that site are likely complicated by GLX construction, as the City and the GLX team are in talks about the fate of the adjacent Homans Building site.
 
Hmm. Half the lot will be surface parking. The other half will be, wait for it, a Colonial. More accurately a Dullonial. Way to go Somerville.
 
Brad Plaid said:
Hmm. Half the lot will be surface parking. The other half will be, wait for it, a Colonial. More accurately a Dullonial. Way to go Somerville.
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I hate the faux historical colonial more than just about any other condo architecture going, but I can forgive it if the space gets a charming coffee shop like 3 Little Figs - I'll be so upset if a Dunkin Donuts goes here. The surface lots are unforgivable but they're pretty much a given for newly built condos in Camberville these days so not exactly a shock.
 
kjdonovan said:
A colonial would be the most impressive architectural contribution to that intersection in the past 100 years. :) And as for the surface parking? Excellent opportunity for an outdoor patio once the driverless car revolution obliterates yuppie car ownership. Next stop 2040! http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2014/04/practical-path-driverless-cars/8759/
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Glad I'm not the only one who sees the potential here (assuming you aren't being sarcastic), but this lot is small time. These massive parking structures like Alewife and surface lots in places like South Bay and Twin Cities plazas are what I'm more excited about. Especially these big box plazas, the ultimate urban buzzkill, but this deserves it's own thread in the fantasy/futurism section, lol.
 
proposal for the god awful teele square hole;

http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/article/20140416/NEWS/140417023

Plans proposed for pit in Somerville's Teele Square

By Monica Jimenez
mjimenez@wickedlocal.com
Posted Apr. 16, 2014 @ 2:40 pm

SOMERVILLE

Teele Square’s giant pit may soon be filled.

The eyesore at 1154 Broadway, empty since a fire destroyed the commercial complex on site in October 2011, would be replaced by a four-story building with commercial and residential space, according to design plans filed at City Hall.

Neighbors are invited to a community meeting May 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the West Somerville Neighborhood School to become acquainted with the proposed project, said Ward 7 Alderman Katjana Ballantyne.

"From the comments I have gotten, people feel it’s been a long time and they want to see something there," Ballantyne said. "Especially the neighbors going back a number of blocks around them, they want to see foot traffic, they want to see vitality in the square."

Alderman At Large Mary Jo Rossetti, who lives in Teele Square, said the same.

"I think it’s been vacant for far too long," Rossetti said. "It’s our local swimming hole that’s not being used as a swimming hole, and it needs attention."

Ballantyne and Rossetti said they don’t know very much yet about the proposal under consideration by the Somerville Design Review Committee. Chris Griffin of Griffin Properties, which the listing agent for the site, said he could not discuss plans because he was bound by a confidentiality agreement between the site’s buyer and seller. The site’s current owner is Robert Casey, who took over the trust managing the site from the previous owner, Frank Sartori, after the fire.

According to a plan by Peter Quinn Architects the building would have 7,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and three residential levels above. There would be an underground parking level for 21 cars, accessible by a two-way ramp and an elevator leading up to a plaza serving both residents and businesses, possibly with an adjacent seasonal kiosk.

The commercial level would have plaza and street entries as well as a residential elevator in the lobby, according to the plan. The residential levels would include 10 two-bedroom units ranging from 1,080 to 1,130 square feet and one 1,500-square-foot three-bedroom penthouse, all with balconies. The 40-to-45-foot-tall building would be angled according to the line of the street, would include a step back at the rear where it meets the neighborhood, and would incorporate trees, according to the plan.

The prominent Teele Square site has been nothing but a fenced-off pit since October 2011, when a three-alarm fire gutted the building that stood there. The building was formerly home to Hawk Cleaners and Nail Image, as well as the West Somerville police substation, Maria’s Italian Cold Cuts and Asian restaurant Kee Kar Lau.

Ballantyne said people in her ward feel it’s about time something happened at that site.

"It has been demoralizing for the community. They have been saddened," Ballantyne said. "They want to see something there."
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