Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

[Ruairi]

I think it's a great success, it's almost like it needed the faux Disney look to get it over the first hurdle. It'll keep growing and mature away from that faux feel. A very good use of space. The only slightly annoying thing is that they haven't done much to link foot and bike traffic from east Somerville. I haven't seen any increase in foot traffic around east Broadway even though it's looking well now. It's all one way traffic (figuratively) from East Somerville to Assembly.

 

[chrisbrat]

good and optimistic point(s).

not for nothing, nearly all of the dive bars that i used to frequent in somerville when i first moved here 12 years ago are closed/replaced now, anyway. seems like it's not a "thing" with widespread appeal anymore.

 

[bakgwailo]

I for one rather enjoy Assembly Row - at least what has been done so far. I far rather like it to say the seaport development of super blocks and squat fat short glass buildings. I have never been to either National Harbor or Virginia Beach Towne Center, but touring around them in the Google Maps link I would also say they have much more the single building/super block feel to them, whereas I think Assembly did a much better job at varying the facades in the buildings to give a (faux) sense of smaller/more "old" Boston size buildings. I guess just compared to most of the crap that is being built around the city today I really do think its a step above. I would personally love it if the the plots had be super subdivided and they had build a real "modern" row house neighborhood with ground floor retail, but that just simply doesn't seem possible at all anymore anywhere.

Anyways - I think JeffDowntown is spot on the nose - give it a decade or two for the brand new shine to get weather away and maybe some a real neighborhood bar to come into its own - although that seems to be dying at least in Boston's neighborhoods, unfortunately.

 

[commuter guy]

good and optimistic point(s).

not for nothing, nearly all of the dive bars that i used to frequent in somerville when i first moved here 12 years ago are closed/replaced now, anyway. seems like it's not a "thing" with widespread appeal anymore.

The neighborhood bars with "character" or unique atmosphere are not likely disappearing due to lack of appeal but due certain economic pressures and incentives created by overly restrictive regulations. I particularly blame the outrageously high cost of liquor licenses for the demise of many taverns. In Boston, the corporate restaurant groups are opening place after place in downtown Boston and/or the seaport, they can only obtain such a license by purchasing from a willing seller. Many taverns in outlying city neighborhoods have sold their licenses for hundreds of thousands of dollars to these corporate restaurant/bar companies. I'm sure the same pattern is in effect in Somerville and Cambridge but the market pressures might not be as extreme.

 

[commuter guy]

Right, but given enough time, Assembly is definitely going to acquire some "place." The key elements of good urbanism are all there, but obviously they are all shiny when new. You can't start an isolated urban space with grit from day 1. The grit has to be applied by us. You also can't round up 25+ retailers without a unifying plan/theme like Assembly's outlet theme. The outlets aren't going to last forever, they are really just there to prime the pump.

As others have said, Assembly is A) hopefully going to grow into the fabric of East Somerville and Sullivan Square or B) failing that, will still be large enough to stand alone as an urban village. Unless the city of Somerville makes a major change in planning priorities, the future of Assembly square is bright.

Reston is a good comparison because it is getting some age on it and still thriving. IMO Assembly stands to be way better than Reston in the long term.

I haven't been to Assembly, so I can't speak from first hand experience. I'm sure it is an enjoyable place and will likely be successful for many years. However, some on the forum are more optimistic than I am in regard to it's potential as an authentic urban neighborhood. I don't expect it to age organically like a city neighborhood. The development is under common unified management. When it starts to age and rents decline to the point where individuals (non chains) might consider opening a restaurant or tavern, they will probably just do a wholesale rehab of the entire complex to reinvent the place. It will be managed more like a shopping mall or lifestyle center. Compare to an older city neighborhood that changes organically with hundreds of different landlords, one building has low rents which might house the neighborhood dive bar and next door another landlord does a gut rehab and lands a trendy upscale restaurant etc....

 

[TheRifleman]

(This is one of the best developments)
Well located
Orange Line access
Assembly Square was the smartest development makes the Seaport scenario look stupid.

I hear more people talk about Assembly Row than the Seaport at this point.
Seaport is a huge disappointment so far especially with all the tax dollars spent and useless traffic created.

Assembly Square is very active. Fallon should be ashamed of himself at this point.

 

[chrisbrat]

(This is one of the best developments)
Assembly Square is very active. Fallon should be ashamed of himself at this point.

 

[datadyne007]

(This is one of the best developments)
Well located
Orange Line access
Assembly Square was the smartest development makes the Seaport scenario look stupid.

I hear more people talk about Assembly Row than the Seaport at this point.
Seaport is a huge disappointment so far especially with all the tax dollars spent and useless traffic created.

Assembly Square is very active. Fallon should be ashamed of himself at this point.

This is the most sense you've ever made on this board. You're 100% correct. Assembly is by far the most successful urban master plan executed in the Boston metro and all a good number can say is that it's fake & destined for doom & gloom. Meanwhile, the Seaport is filled with wide boulevards, boring buildings & monolithic superblocks, Northpoint has been stalled for years & is only starting back up right now (and has boring buildings & monolithic superblocks), Boston Landing is a mess of monolithic superblocks & lack of proper rapid transit or even bus service & every new development people fawn over on here has far worse of a street presence & materiality than any of the buildings at Assembly do.

Assembly works.

 

[CSTH]

^like

 

[cca]

This is the most sense you've ever made on this board. You're 100% correct. Assembly is by far the most successful urban master plan executed in the Boston metro and all a good number can say is that it's fake & destined for doom & gloom. Meanwhile, the Seaport is filled with wide boulevards, boring buildings & monolithic superblocks, Northpoint has been stalled for years & is only starting back up right now (and has boring buildings & monolithic superblocks), Boston Landing is a mess of monolithic superblocks & lack of proper rapid transit or even bus service & every new development people fawn over on here has far worse of a street presence & materiality than any of the buildings at Assembly do.

Assembly works.

True ... true. Superblocks are such great ROI though. How do you beat the ROI? Can't. Are people going to leave Seaport to move to Assembly? That is highly doubtful. In a way ... Seaport is cursed with proximity to Downtown. There is no pressure to create urban richness.

As far as the "fake" goes. It still bothers me in the way that it bothers an architect when their change is not sorted on their dresser. It bothers me because I am sensitive to authenticity (which Assembly lacks in droves) but we are not a society that cares much about that so what does it matter. Its an idealized image of how we wish things were. People dig it ... its a neat place to visit from time to time. Lots of good choices got made there ... thumbs up.

cca

 

[JeffDowntown]

Assembly Row caters to a dominant American aesthetic, which is pretty vanilla. But it is good density; it is transit accessible; and overall a decent mixed use plan close to the city.

I agree in the sentiment that it will be successful, in the same way Disney properties are successful.

 

[atlantaden]

Comparing the master plan of the Seaport to that of Assembly Square seems a bit unfair. Considering the price of the land in the Seaport and the size of the parcels and the area of the Seaport itself, would it even have been possible to have anything like Assembly Square. We have architects here, I'd like to hear if it would have been possible.

 

[Arlington]

Assembly Row caters to a dominant American aesthetic, which is pretty vanilla. But it is good density; it is transit accessible; and overall a decent mixed use plan close to the city.

I agree in the sentiment that it will be successful, in the same way Disney properties are successful.

And the same way that these plain vanilla, cookie cutter developments doing the dominant American aesthetic of their age were successful (and even more monotonous than Assembly)
Beacon Hill's Chestnut Street doing "early Federal brick"
South End's Chester Sq & Union square doing "late Federal brick"
Back bay doing "brownstone"
[Rockefeller Center doing "deco-modern]
[Christian Science plaza doing IM Pei brutalist modern]

 

[JeffDowntown]

And the same way that these plain vanilla, cookie cutter developments doing the dominant American aesthetic of their age were successful (and even more monotonous than Assembly)
Beacon Hill's Chestnut Street doing "early Federal brick"
South End's Chester Sq & Union square doing "late Federal brick"
Back bay doing "brownstone"

I would put money on the idea that there will never be an Assembly Row Historical District.

First off the construction will never last long enough.

Stylistic repetition can be aesthetically pleasing, or it can just be cheap. And in Back Bay, in particular, there is a lot of subtle variation that is really world class.

That is NOT Assembly Row. There are no Tiffany's, La Farge's or Bartholdi's designing the details there.

 

[Arlington]

I would put money on the idea that there will never be an Assembly Row Historical District.

I agree. It's likely to be a Seaport Historic Distric, where the monotonous all-of-a-kind superblock of glass 2010s style will be preserved and celebrated for those who've (by then) grown fond of it the way that Rockefeller Center took 48 years (opened 1939, designated National Historic Landmark 1987)

But there's an outside chance that maybe "millenial ecclectic" will be a thing.

 

[Brad Plaid]

Assembly was first and foremost designed to be a money machine extracting business/residential/office rents, condo sales, parking fees, etc., etc. Aesthetic concerns were near the bottom of the priority list, otherwise there would be some distinction to this rather than the themed, packaged, could-be-anywhere genericness of it. Glad it's been a success so far though.

 

[JumboBuc]

Assembly was first and foremost designed to be a money machine extracting business/residential/office rents, condo sales, parking fees, etc., etc.

This could be said for probably 95% of all developments ever.

 

[tysmith95]

^Make that 100% of all developments. Unless the government is building it profit is the primary motive. I think that the positive think about Assembly was that one developer owns the whole neighborhood (besides 5 Middlesex). Therefore it's in FRIT's best interest to build an attractive street-scape and create a vibrant neighborhood. I think that's why this development has turned out better then places like Northpoint or even the Seaport. Yes there's nothing very original or groundbreaking about architecture in this area but I would say that it's decent.

But yes I do somewhat agree with Brad that making developments in every part of the country look the same is boring. I like all of the triple deckers that Boston has as it's unique to New England.

 

[whighlander]

(This is one of the best developments)
Well located
Orange Line access
Assembly Square was the smartest development makes the Seaport scenario look stupid.

I hear more people talk about Assembly Row than the Seaport at this point.
Seaport is a huge disappointment so far especially with all the tax dollars spent and useless traffic created.

Assembly Square is very active. Fallon should be ashamed of himself at this point.

Riff -- If you look at the private $ invested in Seaport compared to Assembly -- its not even close

Seaport is already part of the core of Boston, Assembly is a nicely developing development in Somerville

You can't legitimately compare Assembly Orange Line stop and all -- to Kendall let alone the Seaport

That said Assembly is developing well -- its just still a work in progress -- revisit it after Partners is fully ensconced and a "fixture"

 

[bakgwailo]

Riff -- If you look at the private $ invested in Seaport compared to Assembly -- its not even close

Seaport is already part of the core of Boston, Assembly is a nicely developing development in Somerville

You can't legitimately compare Assembly Orange Line stop and all -- to Kendall let alone the Seaport

That said Assembly is developing well -- its just still a work in progress -- revisit it after Partners is fully ensconced and a "fixture"

They definitely are on different orders of magnitude in money, size, scope, etc. Which makes it even more egregious that a smaller scale development like Assembly got its act together and was able to get real transit (the infill Orange Line station), whereas the Seaport is choking itself on traffic - I have seen things backed up for when I get to say Lucky's for a drink after work - I step out after maybe an hour (or two) and its still gridlocked. Admittedly, a nice excuse to have another pint (even though I take the red), its pretty ridiculous that the best plan for the amount of money spent there was the Silver Line and ghost town that is the Courthouse station.