Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

kjdonovan said:
If Federal already owns the Marketplace, then I don't understand the eminent domain argument either. Given the interest in using a single developer in Union Square, they likely would pursue the same strategy here. So they'd be seizing from Federal to tear down the strip mall and have new Row-esque construsction built by...Federal? (Except of course for the mythical soccer stadium...keep the dream alive!)

Shirley, I must be missing something. :)
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My only possible thought here is that the city would do a 'friendly taking', giving Federal the fair market value for it. Then, they would give them back the property for free or less than they paid to redevelop it. I would think the numbers would work for Federal to redevelop it without an influx of cash from the city, but who knows. It may also be that the city wants subsidized housing or something else not in line with Federals vision, so this is a way to force it to happen.

Or, it may have just been someone at the company misspeaking.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Here's a good question (and one I'm asking because I don't want to sift through pages and pages on here): what is the break down of housing unit sizes? Is the developer going for more 1 and 2 beds or will they expand for larger units for families? I know in NYC developers are noticing a need for larger units and are combining apartments once meant to be 1 or 2 beds into larger apartments. Also if the city of Somerville is smart they would try to pressure the developers to build something where people can stay as opposed to a YUPY colony.
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Avalon at Assembly Row is relatively diverse. From what I understand there are equal amounts of each size, but two bedrooms have already all been leased.

However, they are definitely focusing on the younger crowd. AVA Somerville, in a different block is primarily studios with chalkboard walls, exposed brick, bike racks in the apartments themselves, and collapsible walls (make a studio look like a one bedroom).
 
underground said:
Agree with Ron, although it would be great if Assembly Square was slowly redeveloped in a way that kept the existing businesses, but housed them in more urban structures. You can't beat direct access to cheap stuff like Home Depot, Christmas Tree Shop, and the craft store (can't remember the name).
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A.C. Moore. And don't forget Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Goods!
 
Here is some interesting news from the Federal CEO, Donald Wood, regarding the company's plans for the Partners site, along with more information on the Phase 1 buildout. Of note are new retailers, the possibility of another phase in the not too distant future, and the expectation they will get a drugstore within the Partners site (but no mention of a supermarket).

Let me move on now to the development pipeline and start with the good work being done at Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts. First, the planning and documentation with Partners HealthCare on the 12-acre former IKEA site is going extremely well, and we hope to have fully-executed documents completed over the summer to allow for a planned construction start by Partners this fall. In a piece of very good news, the deal now contemplates development rights for 900,000 square feet of office space, up from 700,000, making room for Partners' 4,700 plus employees moving in over several years beginning as early as 2016. We continue to work through the accompanying retail plan on that site, which we would own. That investment is expected to include a service retail destination including a drug store, a health club and additional food and service alternatives. We're estimating something in the range of a $35 million investment and about 110,000 square feet, but we'll report with more specificity on this piece and the entire Partners transaction once all the documentation is done.

On the other end of the Assembly site, we're proud to report that 97% of the retail space in our Phase 1 development is committed. That's 46 out of 51 outlet, restaurant and entertainment tenants that will open beginning now with the AMC Theater and then throughout the summer in anticipation of a full lineup in the fall. Leases executed in this first quarter included J.Crew, PUMA, Orbis, Motherhood Maternity, Aveda Salon and Sugar Heaven; while real estate committee approved-deals included Kenneth Cole, Express, Carter's, Oshkosh and Francesca's.

The first residential move-ins have begun in AvalonBay's apartments, and external construction on the block 2 office building is nearing completion. We're getting close on some office leasing in that building and as I noted, are virtually done with the retail lease in its base. The future looks very bright for Assembly Row and I hope that we'll be talking about another phase in the not-too-distant future.
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Full transcript is here http://seekingalpha.com/article/220...-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single
 
Partners is revising its proposed design, with a Phase A and Phase B component. Very big PDF of all the details here: http://mvtf.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/partnersassembly_npc_vol1.pdf

But here's the visuals:
Overview
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Phase A involves a little surface parking in the back, no child care building, and a smaller ground floor footprint. Phase B would fill out some of the parkland area marked by the dotted red line
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Green roof! Per Alex's comments, sounds like ground floor retail here.
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I think the color in the glass is the interior ceilings, not the glass (I hope.)
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Architecture: Check.

Ground level retail: Check.

That amount of parking seems excessive by the smell test, especially with those massive surface lots right next door sitting empty in the middle of weekdays, as well as the nominally "TOD" nature of this. At least they're putting some nice-looking cladding on it.
 
^ Agreed. The parking seems overdone, but overall, it's a good looking plan.

EDIT: Might Partners be anticipating losing their parking lots by North Station? It would be a hassle for their employees to drive to Assembly and then take the Orange Line or a Partners Shuttle to their final destination, but the amount of parking might be anticipatory of the redev of the North Station/Old Spaulding parcels.
 
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maybe it's also a potential overbuild so if they do something on the homedepot, circuit city lot they can reorient it and scrap that surface parking in favor of something there in the future.
 
choo said:
maybe it's also a potential overbuild so if they do something on the homedepot, circuit city lot they can reorient it and scrap that surface parking in favor of something there in the future.
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Regarding possible future uses of the Home Depot / Circuit City lot, I find it interesting that the former "Ikea Way" is now known as "Revolution Drive". That garage could possibly suit a next-door soccer stadium quite nicely.

(Sorry if this comment is better suited to another thread)
 
JumboBuc said:
Regarding possible future uses of the Home Depot / Circuit City lot, I find it interesting that the former "Ikea Way" is now known as "Revolution Drive". That garage could possibly suit a next-door soccer stadium quite nicely.

(Sorry if this comment is better suited to another thread)
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This also fits right in with the mysterious illogical eminent domain stuff. Since the marketplace is brand new, the city obviously wouldn't target it. That leaves only the Home Depot block, with the SRA to have full control over what is developed there (and hence negotiations with any secretive private interests).

So far, we have the Somerville City Council discussing eminent domain for the Home Depot site, Partners building an outsized garage, Federal renaming the road which would be the postal address for the stadium "Revolution Drive" and the Krafts denying all rumors.

What's taking this announcement so long?
 
This has promise. Very interesting massing at many different scales. Let keep our fingers crossed.

cca
 
This was posted by Boston Magazine on Facebook this morning. The middle pic on the bottom is interesting. They are adding art/murals (graffiti?) to some of the buildings...

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Actually, upon further inspection, it's probably marketing for Legal Seafood. Still a cool way to spruce up some plain brick.
 
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datadyne007 said:
This was posted by Boston Magazine on Facebook this morning.
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Thanks! The transit geek in me wonders what the route and hours of operation of the "amusement park" tractor-train will be?

{EDIT: it is just temporary...probably only for "opening day", since it was provided by www.roamingrailroad.com :-( }

In many ways those things are superior to the "courtesy shuttle", since they're easy on/off (good for crowds and packages) and keep people in eye-contact with the street. What is its use?
 
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I really need to get down there myself. I'm curious to know from those who have been there: are these pictures just literally the best urbanistic shots one can take in the development - i.e., if the cameraman turned his head 30 degrees to the left, would he see a field of parking? Just from the maps I get the sense that there are one or two "closed" urban streets here, and then turn a corner and BAM: big box and parking lot. Would love to know if that's true...
 
^Yes, but I am encouraged that the vision of future phases and the pushing of the City of Somerville is to expand this urbanist footprint to the rest of the development over time. So i would not judge to critically on the fact that there is still a lot of empty plots and infill. The vision is the right direction.
 
Arlington said:
In many ways those things are superior to the "courtesy shuttle", since they're easy on/off (good for crowds and packages) and keep people in eye-contact with the street. What is its use?
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Legoland rented it as crowd control to keep the tykes from freaking out during opening day line madness. Likely not a common thing as those roads were closed at the time and now open to traffic.
 
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