Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Anyone remember the old Shopper's World with the open courtyard? I think this is the modern incarnation.

swpostcard2.jpg


swpostcard.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Hah, I remember going there to see the reindeer around x-mas as a kid.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Snapped a picture of the site on my way home today.

photo_jan_03__3_27_38_pm.jpg
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Sheathing is going up on the storage facility along 93...grey butt-ugly! I was sad to see they didn't even make an attempt to be creative...We drivers deserve better!
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Renderings look great........I think this would be really positive for Assembly Square area. (not sure it will ever look this great)


Somebody should put together another GOOD TIMES for this area.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Shepard said:
Looks to be on a similar scale as the National Harbor down the Potomac from DC - http://nationalharbor.com/ - except here with transit access.
Click to expand...

And I'm starting to get the feeling this will be a similar Disney-fied neighborhood. A clean, expensive, sterile, family friendly neighborhood.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

bigeman312 said:
And I'm starting to get the feeling this will be a similar Disney-fied neighborhood. A clean, expensive, sterile, family friendly neighborhood.
Click to expand...

Isn't any neighborhood a developer builds a "Disney-fied" neighborhood by those measures? I don't think any developer has gone to the City Council to try to sell blocks of grimy alleys filled with panhandlers and lined with tattoo parlors...
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Equilibria said:
Isn't any neighborhood a developer builds a "Disney-fied" neighborhood by those measures? I don't think any developer has gone to the City Council to try to sell blocks of grimy alleys filled with panhandlers and lined with tattoo parlors...
Click to expand...

True. It's also only a bad thing if you yearn for grit, grime and affordability.

I personally think this will be a positive for the city. I just find it interesting how much this will be a ying-yang of sorts with classic "Slumerville" of old.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

bigeman312 said:
And I'm starting to get the feeling this will be a similar Disney-fied neighborhood. A clean, expensive, sterile, family friendly neighborhood.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, there are and still will be plenty of gritty, slimy, tacky and questionable areas in Somerville for you to find.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

You can't build character on day 1. you acquire it over time from the people and its uses. All you can hope for is a design that is nice, lasting, and conducive to getting people to interact with the buildings, surroundings, and others.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

And there is no context here to derive character from, other than the Orange Line and railroad tracks and the riverfront. It's empty land, that is being built anew.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

choo said:
You can't build character on day 1. you acquire it over time from the people and its uses. All you can hope for is a design that is nice, lasting, and conducive to getting people to interact with the buildings, surroundings, and others.
Click to expand...

This is exactly right, and I don't mean to say that the only people looking for character and authenticity are those who appreciate crime and grime. Character in cities is like the uncanny valley in computer animation and robotics: the more authentic you design something to be, the more people notice the ways in which it's just "too perfect." I just spent some time in Texas in developments that suffer mightily from this problem.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

The previous indoor-mall version of the Assembly Square shopping center next door tried to incorporate some of the character of the building's previous factory and warehouse uses. Unfortunately I don't think much of that has survived the subsequent conversion to a strip mall.

The developer does plan to re-erect the Ford factory's old water tower. I'd love to see an Edsel installed for display somewhere too, but it would have to be protected against both the weather and people.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

choo said:
You can't build character on day 1. you acquire it over time from the people and its uses. All you can hope for is a design that is nice, lasting, and conducive to getting people to interact with the buildings, surroundings, and others.
Click to expand...

Well yes, but one thing that always helps is diverse ownership of the building stock. In my opinion, that's the biggest impediment to places like this having that natural or organic type feel. Don't get me wrong, it looks very good for what it is, which is a big improvement over the standard suburban development. But it will likely never have quite the feel of a true urban neighborhood.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Depends on whether the developer plans to keep all of it, or gradually sell it off piecemeal after it's developed.
 
Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

HenryAlan said:
Well yes, but one thing that always helps is diverse ownership of the building stock. In my opinion, that's the biggest impediment to places like this having that natural or organic type feel. Don't get me wrong, it looks very good for what it is, which is a big improvement over the standard suburban development. But it will likely never have quite the feel of a true urban neighborhood.
Click to expand...

Is it just a matter of economics that we don't see the example of the Back bay replicated ever? I know these are different types of developments, but it seems if we broke things up, had a lot of different developers on a lot of small plots, you'd end up with a lot of different styles, uses, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top