74M (EDGE Assembly Sq.) | 74 Middlesex Ave | Somerville

Equilibria said:
The Assembly Square Marketplace (the strip mall) is owned by the same people as Assembly Row (FRIT), but this project is owned by someone else. This has no relationship to the strip mall.
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Correct, the marketplace is not going anywhere. This project is 100% unrelated to that.
 
sm89 said:
It's exciting to see projects by other developers moving along in this area. What stage of the approval process is this in?

Given what Somerville has been doing recently with parking protected bike lanes (Union Square), I'd expect a more advanced design as this moves through the review process. I don't think they'd accept a standard bike lane given the scope of this project.
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This is the Planned Unit Development / Preliminary Master Plan (PUD/PMP) submission. This is Somerville's equivalent to a PNF.
 
Equilibria said:
Complete special permit application with architectural renderings (p.88 and following):

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifa.somerv...y's-edge-special-permit-complete-04-19-18.pdf
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^ Looks nicely massed! Excellent that there's good ground activation by floors G and 1 by putting parking on floors 2 and 3 (where they will receive the brunt of highway noise and somewhat shelter the center courtyard.

And then the hotel can do tricks like sealed windows to keep out the highway noise, as the whole hotel bounces noise from 93 away from the residential tower (which can then have operable windows without being crushed by the noise)

And really great to get more users for the underpass.

NOTE: I have found it helpful to read "Kensington Ave" as "Relocated Kensington Ave" which in turn, would be more truthfully named "parallel to 93 on-ramps"
 
Arlington said:
^ Looks nicely massed! Excellent that there's good ground activation by floors G and 1 by putting parking on floors 2 and 3 (where they will receive the brunt of highway noise and somewhat shelter the center courtyard.

And then the hotel can do tricks like sealed windows to keep out the highway noise, as the whole hotel bounces noise from 93 away from the residential tower (which can then have operable windows without being crushed by the noise)

And really great to get more users for the underpass.

NOTE: I have found it helpful to read "Kensington Ave" as "Relocated Kensington Ave" which in turn, would be more truthfully named "parallel to 93 on-ramps"
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I agree for the most part, but the hat on the hotel tower is straight out of the 90s. Very kitschy & tacked on.
 
I think the materials for the skin are going to be pretty basic but the actual project itself might be really well done. Arlington pointed out the good things and I really like the courtyard; all too often these tend to be left over "open spaces" that exist so that they can build taller. But this is smart.
 
Progress on this:

www.bostonglobe.com

Major office and lab space proposed for near Assembly Row - The Boston Globe

A Dutch office development firm is partnering with Boston Global Investors to buy — and build on — a nearly one-acre site between Interstate 93 and Middlesex Avenue.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

A Dutch office development firm is partnering with Boston Global Investors to buy — and build on — a nearly one-acre site between Interstate 93 and Middlesex Avenue. EDGE, as the firm is known, and BGI aim to file development plans soon for a large office and lab building, said Jan-Hein Lakeman, executive managing director of EDGE US.
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Equilibria said:
It's the kind of progress that's really the opposite of progress.
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Equilibria --- BGI are the folks behind "Seaport Square" which is turning out to be not just interesting development -- but Exciting from the 'Place Making" perspective

I would assume that BGI wants to get a start into Somerville development -- this might be really well done
 
^ Maybe he was lamenting that it will be employment and not housing?
 
Arlington said:
^ Maybe he was lamenting that it will be employment and not housing?
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I wasn't actually commenting on the nature of the plan, just that the plan that was approved has been abandoned. That's not really "progress" except in the biggest-picture sense.

I'm not thrilled that we're giving up housing for labs...
 
Equilibria said:
I wasn't actually commenting on the nature of the plan, just that the plan that was approved has been abandoned. That's not really "progress" except in the biggest-picture sense.

I'm not thrilled that we're giving up housing for labs...
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Equilibria -- At this time -- the demand for labs seems to be quite insatiable with rents going in the range of $100/ sq. ft in Kendall and $75/sq/ft in Alewife -- somewhat less further out such as Lexington or Waltham

I think BGI and the Dutch are viewing Assembly in Somerville as another Alewife or [Seaport other side of Summer St. / Fort Point / Broadway] -- overflow from Kendall for the 2nd tier companies with less funding

Meanwhile apartment rental pricing and condo sales pricing per sq ft has leveled off -- that's the current market
 
Does anyone have a list of the buildings + their heights for Assembly Edge?
 
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I had thought this had sold to a lab developer. Maybe that didn't go through?


Planning Staff received an application on January 14, 2020, from the applicant, 845 Riverview, LLC, requesting a time extension of one (1) year for a Special Permit with Site Plan Review-A, approved on May 15, 2018, to develop a transit-oriented mixed-use development on 0.85 acres under an approved PUD-PMP to create 368,030 square feet in two buildings, one of 147’ high, containing up to 180 hotel rooms, and the other 235’ high containing up to 215 residential units, supported by 9,472 square feet of ground floor restaurant/retail space, and 293 structured parking spaces.

Staff finds that the Applicant has made a good faith effort to exercise the approval granted under the above decisions but has been delayed in completing construction documentation, obtaining construction financing, and in meeting the required conditions of the SPSR-A decision.
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