Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

Outdoors in N.E.? Picnic tables would be cumbersome, force some people to sit "in the middle" and not allow for a degree of flexibility in table/seating arrangement for varying sizes of parties. The small tables around the Brewer Fountain work in just this way. Indoor beergarden complete with oompa band, lots of space, pretty maids, and boisterous enthusiasm?...Then picnic tables would be the way to go.,
 
New building in block 6 of Assembly Row gets a review by planning board in what looks like September. Renders show it in context with the T stop and four finished buildings. Pixels vimeo post above adds some context as well.

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This is more like it, the taller building that is. It's a density far more appropriate to the T stop than the 5/6-floor sprawl built so far.
 
Brad Plaid said:
This is more like it, the taller building that is. It's a density far more appropriate to the T stop than the 5/6-floor sprawl built so far.
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eh, 5 or 6 floors is hardly sprawl, it's what most of the Back Bay consists of. I've been to Assembly Row a few times, it's surprisingly urban for being just a couple blocks (so far). You don't even notice you are right next to a giant big box strip mall. I think a lot of this is due to the superb integration with the waterfront and the high quality construction materials. It's a very well designed space. The renderings of this taller building look nice but it does kinda make me worry a bit about becoming "Waterside Place on the mystic". As long as the street level isn't sacrificed, it should be fine.

Really thus far my big complaint is that too much space is devoted to parking garages, but I guess that keeps it active if people see it as an easy place to drive to. That may change when the T stop opens but even still it's just the orange line and doesn't really improve access from the west. The other issue would be the fact that it's all chains, but they are decent/useful and Somerville doesn't really have a newish area like this that chains fit well with. Plus the Slumbrew beer garden is coming so that should give some local flavor. Now if only they can somehow knit this into the rest of the city's urban fabric (good luck), then you'd have a massive winner.
 
Looking at this in comparison to the Seaport blocks with their bathtubs and underground parking, why can't the parking here be entirely underground? Do they need something to occupy they space that would otherwise be leasable/salable and require more parking?
 
It is at least 2x to 3x more expensive for them to bury a garage with this much capacity under the site and also draws out the construction process further as well. One of the marketing factors for Assembly Row is that it costs less to live there than to live in a similar product in Boston. Above ground parking is one of the ways they can keep those living costs low--less borrowed money the developer needs to worry about paying off. Below ground parking is one of the reasons development at the seaport is so expensive, too. It's great from a walkability and aesthetic perspective, but cost prohibitive and indicative of the insufficient transit access to that neighborhood.
 
dshoost88 said:
It is at least 2x to 3x more expensive for them to bury a garage with this much capacity under the site and also draws out the construction process further as well. One of the marketing factors for Assembly Row is that it costs less to live there than to live in a similar product in Boston. Above ground parking is one of the ways they can keep those living costs low--less borrowed money the developer needs to worry about paying off. Below ground parking is one of the reasons development at the seaport is so expensive, too. It's great from a walkability and aesthetic perspective, but cost prohibitive and indicative of the insufficient transit access to that neighborhood.
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I agree: above-ground structured parking is what's right for the site now, and in 40 years, when the Urban Ring BRT is passing through the area and Orange Line service has matured (shorter headways) and the site is ready to go "downtown", the developer will have exactly the right incentive to demolish a garage or two and build something in their stead, just like we're seeing with the Government Center, Winthrop Square and Harbor Towers garages (which, of course, did not "start out" buried and we seem to have survived them just fine..and Assembly's are nicer/better hidden).

And I dig the rooftop sign space.
 
Well. We can hope then that the existing garages provided do not fill up fully as more tenants and capacity are brought on board, and they realize additional parking is not required at the ratio provided today.

But, being an outlet mall, it would seem that driving here will be pretty common for shoppers, and we can be sure a good amount of residents will at least have cars and drive a fair amount. Hopefully the trend of car-less or limited car living in the cities continues, but need to design for success, and today that means including cars and drivers in the design approach.
 
I think the frustrating part about the garages is not that people don't need them, it's that there's about a million surface parking spaces right next door going mostly unused.
 
Matthew said:
I think the frustrating part about the garages is not that people don't need them, it's that there's about a million surface parking spaces right next door going mostly unused.
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Even at the gym, when they're going in to walk on the treadmills, people prefer the closest spots, so I expect the surface lots to still be underused ;-) (or easily re-purposed)

Those surface lots will be even riper for redevelopment into "city scape" as the neighborhood becomes more multimodal.
 
I think they sought to overbuild parking up front and build out the rest.
I think the original assembly square strip and lots are already being looked at for redevelopment. it probably 10 years down the road, but the city has already said it wants as much and 1 story buildings and surface lots are not the highest use for the space.
 
Shepard said:
Im with Dave on this one. No frills picnic tables are the way to go.
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Nah, you guys are thinking of beer halls. A proper beer garden has small tables, just enough to hold the beer and a book or magazine when you put either item down. This looks just about right. With any luck, it will serve as a model for locations throughout Boston.
 
kjdonovan said:
New building in block 6 of Assembly Row gets a review by planning board in what looks like September. Renders show it in context with the T stop and four finished buildings. Pixels vimeo post above adds some context as well.
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Really nice. Where did you get the renders from? I live in Assembly Row and I haven't heard anything about this.
 
Old AMC theater in Assembly Square is gated off with a demo sign on the front door. Excavator on site.
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kjdonovan said:
Old AMC theater in Assembly Square is gated off with a demo sign on the front door. Excavator on site.
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So what's going to go there? This is not the same owner/developer as the rest of the area, right? IIRC this was also a site that you could wedge a soccer statium into, so scratch that off the list.
 
Next up for knockdown...circuit city...hopefully
 
Arlington said:
So what's going to go there?
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The address is (I believe) 35 Middlesex Ave and there's nothing on the city's planning pages. It's not Federal Realty, at least for now.

It may simply be leveled with nothing coming for a little while. Others may know more.
 
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