275 Beacon Street (Star Market Lot) | Somerville

[cden4]

I agree with the comments about massing. For me, it's not the total size that's the problem. I'm totally fine with the number of units. We clearly need more housing. I have no worries about the parking situation.

It's that the details feel very out of scale with the surrounding buildings. The existing buildings are narrower, generally shorter, and feel a bit more intimate/human scaled. This proposal feels a bit like a mega-block, and the size of the elements seem large compared to what's around it. It's a huge plot of land. You could fit 32 of the houses that surround it within this single property. There should be a way to break it up while still providing a lot of density.

 

[DAVE]

Yeah it looks like theres room to fit some smaller parcels on the beacon street frontage, then have a small street between those and the larger development over the star market. Its kind of similar to what they're doing behind some shops at forest hills. You don't really sacrifice the character but you still get a lot of necessary units.

 

[greenlinetobrooklyn]

Is this located near the new Green Line? 275 Beacon Street (Star Market Lot)

It's on the ROW that the Union Sq line will run on, but it's about one mile from the Union Sq terminus station. If the Union Sq line gets extended to Porter+, this development would be right on it.

 

[erom]

Yeah, I was trying to think of a neighborhood this corresponds to, but it's not really Porter. The Beacon St corridor of Somerville doesn't really have a name AFAIK.

I lived there a few years. Everyone in the neighborhood called it "Beaconville"

EDIT: The intersection with the Biscuit/Dahli/Dial-a-pizza was often joking referred to as "Beaconville Square"

 

[George_Apley]

I lived there a few years. Everyone in the neighborhood called it "Beaconville"

EDIT: The intersection with the Biscuit/Dahli/Dial-a-pizza was often joking referred to as "Beaconville Square"

Welcome! That's interesting, I've never heard that one before.

 

[Equilibria]

I lived there a few years. Everyone in the neighborhood called it "Beaconville"

EDIT: The intersection with the Biscuit/Dahli/Dial-a-pizza was often joking referred to as "Beaconville Square"

Everyone I know in Cambridge/Somerville now calls it "Dali Square", but the name doesn't apply all the way down the corridor... that neighborhood is called Agassiz on the Cambridge side of the line.

 

[RandomWalk]

“Dali Square” or “Duck Village” are the names used in my circle of friends.

 

[Ulithi]

I live near this site and and have shopped at the Star Market for 28 years. I like the design a lot, though agree its massing is on the heavy side. I also attended the community meeting where the design was first presented and was really shocked at the hostile and rude treatment of the developers. The crowd was obtuse beyond belief - we need to house people and a few cute townhouses will not cut it. For what it's worth, the pending new zoning code for Somerville designates both sides of the tracks at 275 Beacon Street as a Fabrication district with a maximum height of four stories. The short description of a fab site is :

The Fabrication district is characterized by moderate to large floor plate buildings up to four (4) stories in height. Buildings are set close to the sidewalk to create a defined street wall that supports pedestrian activity and a sense of place. The district is entirely commercial with buildings typically designed or retrofitted to support multiple tenants.

 

[George_Apley]

I also attended the community meeting where the design was first presented and was really shocked at the hostile and rude treatment of the developers. The crowd was obtuse beyond belief

Cambridge and Somerville have definitely been captured by the "rent control and little-to-no new development" fever. In their minds all new development is bad because it never catches up with demand and all they see are super-pricey, (in this case beefy) condos changing the neighborhood for the worst. They see developers snapping up 3-deckers and condoizing them and selling them for 800K+ each. Ironically this is a function and consequence of both cities refusing to allow growth for the last few decades, and their response is to try to hermetically seal themselves off even more.

 

[whighlander]

Cambridge and Somerville have definitely been captured by the "rent control and little-to-no new development" fever. In their minds all new development is bad because it never catches up with demand and all they see are super-pricey, (in this case beefy) condos changing the neighborhood for the worst. They see developers snapping up 3-deckers and condoizing them and selling them for 800K+ each. Ironically this is a function and consequence of both cities refusing to allow growth for the last few decades, and their response is to try to hermetically seal themselves off even more.

George -- you need to take the Red Line to Alewife and then have a bit of a "walk around"
I'm guessing there are over 1000 new units of housing in the vicinity of Alewife -- just in the past 3 years

 

[Arlington]

More like if GLX2Red happens, it will be very close to the stop between Union & Porter. (And Porter should have been 8 stories tall by 1990 in a normal world)

 

[George_Apley]

George -- you need to take the Red Line to Alewife and then have a bit of a "walk around"
I'm guessing there are over 1000 new units of housing in the vicinity of Alewife -- just in the past 3 years

I know. And it's horribly planned out.

 

[whighlander]

I know. And it's horribly planned out.

George -- then how can you make the statement
" Cambridge and Somerville have definitely been captured by the "rent control and little-to-no new development" fever. In their minds all new development is bad because it never catches up with demand and all they see are super-pricey, (in this case beefy) condos changing the neighborhood for the worst. "

I agree that Alewife could be better -- in particular the giant cul de sac of Cambridge Park Drive and the lack of a street network due to the huge swath of railroad tracks -- major flaws

But these are flaws which could be fixed -- harder to resolve are the clumsy interface between the streets and development in Cambridge, Arlington and Belmont at the meeting corner -- and then how they all relate to the transition of Rt-2 from a limited access highway into a city street

 

[George_Apley]

George -- then how can you make the statement
" Cambridge and Somerville have definitely been captured by the "rent control and little-to-no new development" fever. In their minds all new development is bad because it never catches up with demand and all they see are super-pricey, (in this case beefy) condos changing the neighborhood for the worst. "

I agree that Alewife could be better -- in particular the giant cul de sac of Cambridge Park Drive and the lack of a street network due to the huge swath of railroad tracks -- major flaws

But these are flaws which could be fixed -- harder to resolve are the clumsy interface between the streets and development in Cambridge, Arlington and Belmont at the meeting corner -- and then how they all relate to the transition of Rt-2 from a limited access highway into a city street

You're right, I misspoke. There has been little significant housing development outside of the cul-de-sac "big lot" redevs at Alewife and and North Point. Hopefully the Mass Ave corridor continues to rise.

 

[Nakedi]

More like if GLX2Red happens, it will be very close to the stop between Union & Porter. (And Porter should have been 8 stories tall by 1990 in a normal world)

It's astounding to me how little significant new construction there's been in Porter Square in the last 20 years. Lesley University, which is hardly swimming in capital funds, has really carried the ball here, along with the two hotels.

One thing I've never understood is how the Mass Ave/White Street Star Market has retained its parking lot for all these years-- the Beacon Street proposal as it is would fit in a lot better there, right in the square.

 

[George_Apley]

It's astounding to me how little significant new construction there's been in Porter Square in the last 20 years. Lesley University, which is hardly swimming in capital funds, has really carried the ball here, along with the two hotels.

Zoning and a lack of open land to be redeveloped.

One thing I've never understood is how the Mass Ave/White Street Star Market has retained its parking lot for all these years-- the Beacon Street proposal as it is would fit in a lot better there, right in the square.

It's literally always full. That's why. There is massive demand for parking at that shopping plaza. The Red Line underneath makes any attempt to bury parking messy. The owners have little incentive to redevelop or sell that parking lot.

 

[Nakedi]

Zoning and a lack of open land to be redeveloped.



It's literally always full. That's why. There is massive demand for parking at that shopping plaza. The Red Line underneath makes any attempt to bury parking messy. The owners have little incentive to redevelop or sell that parking lot.

I'm obviously not as well versed in these matters as you are, George, but why not just build over the surface parking? Asking honestly-- there must be a reason, but I'm a dummy.

 

[George_Apley]

I'm obviously not as well versed in these matters as you are, George, but why not just build over the surface parking? Asking honestly-- there must be a reason, but I'm a dummy.

You don't often see large buildings cantilevered over surface parking (or other uses) without the bulk of the structure being grounded. Large buildings need a foundation, they can't just sit elevated by pillars over a half-acre of parking. The lot could be redeveloped with a parking garage component and other uses on the floors above, but it would take a motivated owner/buyer.