Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

kenns15 said:
They just announced new retailers/restaurants and some detail on the condo's and new apartments as part of phase 2: http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/n...tion-opportunities-announced-for-assembly-row
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New Announcements:
-Columbia Outlet (summer 2017)
-Ann Taylor Outlet (summer 2017)
-Yankee Candle (summer 2017)
-The Fragrance Outlet (summer 2017)
-Cafe Nero
-Zo Greek
-Sabroso Taqueria
-Slumbrew Brewhouse (expanded indoor restaurant and brew pub, spring 2017)
-Squeeze Juice


Previously Announced:
-"FitRow" boutique fitness studio cluster (including TITLE Boxing and Orangetheory)
-Mike's Pastry (spring 2017)
-Lucky Strike Social (expanded concept beyond Lucky Strike bowling)
-Waxy's Modern Irish Bar + Kitchen
-Autograph Collection by Marriot
-"Assembly Row's first grocery store" (Trader Joe's)
 
JumboBuc said:
-"Assembly Row's first grocery store" (Trader Joe's)
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I think a Trader Joe's is really all Assembly needs for grocery. Improve connections (foot and bus) to the Stop and Shop on Route 28 and you're all set.
 
^^Can someone please confirm that Trader Joe's is going into the vacated Sports Authority space? While it's all on the greater Assembly property, I think it's a little misleading to consider it as part of the Assembly Row development. #semantics
 
dshoost88 said:
^^Can someone please confirm that Trader Joe's is going into the vacated Sports Authority space? While it's all on the greater Assembly property, I think it's a little misleading to consider it as part of the Assembly Row development. #semantics
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It's going into the AC Moore space, not the Sports Authority space. That was always the plan, but the announcement right around the time of Sports Authority's bankruptcy led many to falsely assume that TJ's was going into the SA space. Federal Realty now brands the whole area as "Assembly Row", with the buildings east of Grand Union Blvd being "The Outlets" and the buildings west being "Marketplace".

Also, Trader Joe's + KMart + <0.5 mile walk to Stop & Shop makes Assembly one of most heavily-grocered neighborhoods anywhere.
 
Plus with the Wegmans going in up the street in Medford.

Assembly row will probably need a drug store soon. It would be a good spot for a 24 hour CVS or Walgreens.

Also with slumbrew moving I wonder if frit is planning to develop that parcel furthur. Hopefully that means that plans for phase 3 will be released soon.
 
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^

-250,000-square-foot, 14-story office building

-Federal Realty plans to file for a special permit from the city of Somerville within the next two weeks for the office. The facility would include 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. McMahon said Federal Realty wold not start construction without an anchor tenant lease.

“We’re continuing to advance the design — we haven’t put it on hold yet,” he said. “Our marketing efforts have yielded strong interest, and we’re hopeful that we’ll secure a tenant this year.”

If that’s the case, Federal Realty could start construction as soon as the third or fourth quarter of this year and deliver the building by 2019. JLL is brokering the office space.
 
Not sure if if this has already been said but ac Moore is indeed going to be Trader Joe's with beer and wine while sports authority will be a Nordstrom rack...at least that was word on the street
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
I think a Trader Joe's is really all Assembly needs for grocery. Improve connections (foot and bus) to the Stop and Shop on Route 28 and you're all set.
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I wonder how Trader Joe's will do with Wegmans 5 minutes away. It will do well for short trips for people in Assembly, but I question long term performance. A similar situation happened back home in upstate NY and Trader Joe's lasted about 6 months in its location after a year of construction.

Rant: They should just get rid of the big box stores and do more high density housing, offices and retail. A minimum of 20 floors per block.

Dream would be to drop 28 N/S into a tunnel and connect with Ten Hills overland by the 2030's. Ten Hills constantly has houses in foreclosure and there's some serious opportunity to redo the area and make East Somerville a powerhouse.

10 minutes from Costco, Wegmans, Casino and eventually a ferry. 5 minutes from I-93 and the Orange Line. I'm going to guess condos will be going for the same price as downtown Boston in the next half decade.
 
TJs should do fine:
1) in Boston, TJs is established and Wegmans is the new kid
2)TJs is better situated for Somerville and the apartment/ single/DINK markets (closer, hipper & better transit access...We will count TJ bags on the OL inbound). Meadow Glen suits Wegmans Medford/Melrose/Malden car-and-kids prepared-meal-on-the-drive-home. (Transit access to Meadow Glen stinks)
3) Peppermint Jo-Jos
 
617 said:
Not sure if if this has already been said but ac Moore is indeed going to be Trader Joe's with beer and wine while sports authority will be a Nordstrom rack...at least that was word on the street
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isn't there a TJ Maxx already there? I know Nordstrom Rack is a "step up" from them, but they are essentially going after the same customer...competition!
 
kenns15 said:
isn't there a TJ Maxx already there? I know Nordstrom Rack is a "step up" from them, but they are essentially going after the same customer...competition!
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Nordstrom Rack's Back Bay location is right across the street from a massive Marshalls at 500 Boylston, too. #Capitalism

And with the grocery store market--I'm curious to see how it plays out, but I think the population density is there to justify all of the grocery store service expansion across metro Boston. I visit places like suburban South Florida where I grew up and count 40+ super markets serving 200,000 people... the City of Boston meanwhile has about as many supermarkets and 3.5x that population (never mind the daytime workforce population).

It makes me happy that Assembly Row, Somerville, and much of Greater Boston are starting to diversify their employment sectors in the area and, thereby, succeed at insulating themselves somewhat from any future economic downturns.
 
Nordstrom Rack would be a huge plus here. It's upmarket from TJ Maxx/Marshalls though would compete with similar consumers. For example, typically a large selection of higher-end men's suits with option for in house tailoring.

The addition of the Rack on Boylston Street has been a success.
 
kenns15 said:
isn't there a TJ Maxx already there? I know Nordstrom Rack is a "step up" from them, but they are essentially going after the same customer...competition!
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dshoost88 said:
Nordstrom Rack's Back Bay location is right across the street from a massive Marshalls at 500 Boylston, too. #Capitalism
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This sort of competition--known as clustering--is actually a good thing for retailers. Businesses like to cluster around competitors if by doing so they create a "destination" that draws customers in, helping them all on the aggregate. When retailers (or nightclubs or Chinese restaurants or biotech companies or whatever) cluster in one spot, potential patrons know where to go when they want clothes (or drinks or Dim Sum or pharmaceutical employment or whatever). So sure, Nordstrom will lose some potential local customers to the competition next door, but by clustering they and the competition collectively draw in more new customers than they'll lose. In the end, getting a small piece of a big pie is better than all of a much, much smaller one. This is why just about all cities throughout all of time have had "garment districts".

But this only works to a point, and it doesn't work for all industries. For example, nightclubs like to cluster because people will go out of their way for nightlife and part of the fun is being able to "crawl" from one spot to the next. This doesn't work for, say, gas stations or other "essentials". And once a location becomes established enough there reaches a point where more businesses stop drawing in more customers, so then adding supply only dilutes demand. Housing in an established, in-demand city is typically thought of this way.
 
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Reznor said:
Waxy's looks to be a suburban chain restaurant/bar.
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Waxy's sucks. Brookline unfortunately allowed one to open at St Mary's, and it's just your average upper-mid-tier sports bar that typifies how run of the mill, bland Boston asshole-dom.
 
617 said:
while sports authority will be a Nordstrom rack...at least that was word on the street
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Well, if I cant have my Ivanka products, I guess I won't be shopping there :rolleyes:
 
JumboBuc said:
If the people of Brookline don't want it then they shouldn't spend their money there
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Excuse me: that area is almost exclusively mom and pop establishments. The invasion of Whole Foods changed that, but the storefronts now occupied by Waxy's were previously, always independent establishments. I, for one, lament the expansion of chains, even if they're supposedly local... and Waxy's typifies chain banality. So, no, it is not simply a matter of "dont go spend your money there and otherwise dont complain about it". The loss of independent commercial establishments is a serious erosion of community all around Boston, and should be taken as such.
 
FK4 said:
Excuse me: that area is almost exclusively mom and pop establishments. The invasion of Whole Foods changed that, but the storefronts now occupied by Waxy's were previously, always independent establishments. I, for one, lament the expansion of chains, even if they're supposedly local... and Waxy's typifies chain banality. So, no, it is not simply a matter of "dont go spend your money there and otherwise dont complain about it". The loss of independent commercial establishments is a serious erosion of community all around Boston, and should be taken as such.
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Sure, I agree, independent establishments add more to a community than chains do. So go ahead: complain and protest and make a stink about Waxy's taking a place that could house an independent business. But it's not up to municipal governments to enforce this. Don't blame the town for Waxy's existence, blame Waxy's customers. If the people of Brookline patronize Waxy's enough to keep it in business, then they must not actually object to it's presence that much. It's a simple question of stated vs revealed preferences.
 
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