Equilibria
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2007
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This is kind of amazing. Perhaps a little Disney, but they definitely seem to be getting this right, if not perfect. This substantially exceeds my expectations. The undoubtedly faux stone facade on the building with the ivy motif is actually convincing, and blows the Seaport Precast (TM) out of the water. My only concern is the retail focus on outlets--maybe over time this will become more of an organic neighborhood with grocery stores and spas and similar to serve residents. In terms of being isolated, that's definitely a concern, but I'm confident that Somerville, and the state, are of the mindset that these are problems to fixed. All you really need is one pedestrian and bike friendly corridor under the 93 linking to the Winter Hill area, and one going South towards Union and North Point to substantially improve the interconnectedness.
I agree on the outlet issue. TOD and transit access are nice, and facing the river first is definitely a plus (though the fact that the Orange Line cuts the project off from the Mystic is unfortunate). However, until the nature of the shops is resolved this is still basically Legacy Place with a T stop.
Architecturally, this is definitely a cut above most lifestyle centers, and Partners will bring a ton of daytime residents and the potential for a lot of good things. In my mind, though, "Disney" means a fake idealized version of something isolated so as to make it a controlled environment. This is Disney. The shops only sell high-end food and clothes and jewelry and handbags I couldn't afford even if I wasn't a guy (who is uninterested in those things). The streets and windows will be kept spotless by a private landowner. There's no school not located across two highways, so kids will be contained in the Lego store.
Also, those pictures might look good in the rain, but they're also only showing 4 completed blocks and are up-close views down the streets between them. Again, Partners might help with this ensuring that the rest of the development gets built, but 4 blocks surrounded by empty lots and parking is not a "main street", it's a mall.
This is not, however, by any means unfixable. Start putting in a hardware store, a NON-WHOLE-FOODS grocery store, a couple full-service banks... all things that can be done by established chains but show a real commitment to residential multi-use. Then we can start talking about connections to Somerville to really make this urban.