Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

There really is no problem with Assembly Square Development. I actually never envisioned this area to look like this. Assembly Square was a disaster back when Good Times Emporium along with the mall and the Somerville movie theater back in the late 80's early 90's. Granted somebody would get Stabbed every other night at Good Times.

Assembly Square Development gets an A+-- for smart development
The area never would never be able to have access to walk from one neighborhood to another. This location is not like Union Square---Completely disconnected.
There is no reason to leave Assembly Square Development area if you live there--Its it own little home with retail shops, restaurants, boating if you need to leave to go into the city, airport, or anywhere else they have instant T access. No need to ever drive-- Brilliant-
Condo owners are the neighborhood sitting on top of retail stores along with hovering over the bridge to Wellington.

Assembly Square was never going to connect to Somerville. It couldn't---The area is located between very busy intersections, roadways that cut through onto 93 and into the city.

I understand that the area is not Somerville feel more like Movie set. But for this area in Somerville it would have never been able to connect to the Davis, Union, Porter. The area was never situated like that in the first place.

We could only hope that more developments would build smarter and more efficient focus on what is good for the overall area also allowing instant transit access for the groups of people that plan to live in the area.
 
Pretty neat concept coming to the second floor retail space in the Partners building:

Boston Magazine: A Fitness Paradise Is Coming to Assembly Row

Boston Magazine said:
Assembly Row is rolling out a new fitness concept called FitRow. The 15,000-square-foot space, set to open in the spring of 2017, will house five different boutique studios, operating independently but located under one roof. The idea is to make it easy and convenient for people to add diversity to their workout routines—kind of like the physical manifestation of ClassPass.

[...]

Membership options haven’t been released yet, but a spokesperson for the development says it will offer a plan that allows clients to take classes at all five studios. Stay tuned for pricing information and membership details.
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Some silly renders are included in the article.

So now the Partners building has an entertainment tenant and a fitness tenant. Next up is a pharmacy, I'm guessing.
 
chrisbrat said:
the new hotel and other additions could alleviate this one particular gripe, but a thing that came up repeatedly last night was how everything (currently) is the same height and size (pretty much). not to say that you couldn't apply that same critique to newbury street or most of commonwealth ave, but i think that (the size/height homogeny) coupled with the fact that it's shared management for the whole thing certainly adds to the "fake" feeling of the whole area. it really is like a mall in that respect -- there can be individual stores/buildings, but it's all overseen by the same entity, so it all seems... the same/sterile.
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That'll be alleviated somewhat when other developers get in on the game with the theater and Circuit City sites. More varied heights are coming.
 
I have to throw another city/area out there - Aker Brygge in Oslo, Norway. Very residential and pedestrian centric with very modern and interesting architecture. Oslo as a whole has a lot of things that Boston could do better.

https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/aker-brygge-wharf/4471/

JeffDowntown said:
HafenCity, Hamburg:
http://www.hafencity.com/en/overview.html

Browse the site, multiple quarters with varying purposes, very human scale. Even a HafenCity University!

Here is their image video link for a quick overview:
http://www.hafencity.com/en/overview/the-hafencity-project.html

I try to not cry about what the Seaport might have been!
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cden4 said:
The best place to cross I-93 is the Kensington underpass. It's not perfect, but they did recently redo all the sidewalks and crosswalks. It lands in kind of an awkward location next to the Stop and Shop loading dock, but oh well...

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3923932,-71.0843762,242m/data=!3m1!1e3
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This is the main way I use to go there. In between taking your life in your hands at the crosswalks, you have the rats and garbage to look forward to. It blows my mind that so much can be spent on a section of the city and this is what passes as acceptable for pedestrian access.
 
tysmith95 said:
The problem with assembly is that it's surrounded by Sullivan Square (yuck), an elevated highway (yuck), and the Mystic River. It's hard to integrate with surrounding neighborhoods when there are no surrounding neighborhoods to integrate with. Until the city decides to bury I-93 and redevelop Sullivan there will never be neighborhoods to integrate with.
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I don't see this. Ten Hills is a typically dense Somerville residential neighborhood just across Rt. 28. East Somerville is a typically dense Somerville residential neighborhood just on the other side of I-93.

Sullivan is peripheral to Assembly, with the train tracks being more of a barrier than 28 or 93 are. The Mystic should be seen as an asset.

I suppose it depends what you mean by "integration", but there are plenty of options for increased connectivity between Ten Hills, Assembly, and East Somerville, especially as the surrounding lots and parcels get redeveloped.
 
I know the City of Somerville would LOVE to improve pedestrian access to and from Assembly. The main issue is that I-93 and the land underneath it is all controlled by MassDOT, and Route 28 (north of Broadway) is controlled by DCR (i.e. Department of Cars and Roads :p)

They did manage to get some minor improvements under I-93 on the Kensington Underpass and Lombardi Way (repaved sidewalks, new crossing signals), an upgraded crossing of Route 28 at Middlesex Ave, a new crossing of Route 28 at Grand Union Blvd, and a new ped/bike underpass/boardwalk under Route 28 at the Mystic River. Still have a long way to go, though to reduce the impact of I-93 as Route 28 as physical and mental barriers to the area though...
 
cden4 said:
The best place to cross I-93 is the Kensington underpass. It's not perfect, but they did recently redo all the sidewalks and crosswalks. It lands in kind of an awkward location next to the Stop and Shop loading dock, but oh well...

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3923932,-71.0843762,242m/data=!3m1!1e3
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This has got to be one of the worst crosswalks in the world. If its the best place to cross I-93, then we must all be better off .. just not crossing under I-93.

After making it through the mugging zone under the highway and between the salt piles, you have to frogger across two on ramps, both with crappy visibility, where drivers are gunning it off lights that are far enough away for them to get a good head of speed before they get to the crossing.

Ugh.

31141095740_2b16571be8_c.jpg
 
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can you build some type of a walkway/bikepath tube under the highway including gated crosswalks?
 
^Like a ground level gerbil tube? I don't see why not...i think gated cross walks would be pretty novel though...
 
The only saving grace with that crosswalk is that the cars end up in platoons because of the signal further back. So they tend to go by in a big pack, and then there are no cars for a bit when you can cross.
 
Cross street just comes to an end/fenced off at 93. Why not just go straight over 93 with a pedestrian/bike path like the one at north point.
 
Ruairi said:
Cross street just comes to an end/fenced off at 93. Why not just go straight over 93 with a pedestrian/bike path like the one at north point.
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Ruairi -- $$$

That elegant sweeping pedestrian/bike bridge over the tracks was very expensive
 
tysmith95 said:
Has Partners Phase II started?
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Partners Phase II isn't going to happen any time soon. We don't even have floors 7-13 populated yet. They're putting the finishing touches on the park area between the partners building and the future childcare building. They've been excavating, planting trees, built a stage/seating, and they just laid all the grass yesterday. I'm sure they'll start work on the childcare building any day now. Partners retail is also currently being worked on and I'm guessing that stuff will probably be open by spring 17'. And during the past couple weeks they've been burying the electrical/water/sewage in the area in front of the partners building between parcels 7A and 8, so they'll probably start putting up those 2 small buildings very soon.
 
whighlander said:
Ruairi -- $$$

That elegant sweeping pedestrian/bike bridge over the tracks was very expensive
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Yea, but theres got to be grounds for some sort of public/private partnership. There's an apartment block going in at the end of Cross street and a whole pile of stuff going in on Middlesex ave.
But yea, I keep forgetting that putting a footbridge over a highway in boston could cost $100m and take 20 years!
 
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