Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

The rendering does such a good job of making this look pretty small from the helicopter view, but this building is going to be a BEAST.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
The rendering does such a good job of making this look pretty small from the helicopter view, but this building is going to be a BEAST.
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fattony said:
Yeah, she's gonna be a chubby one.
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Materiality will really help to visually break up the massing as long as the materials are of quality. Despite being one giant building, it reads as two because of the lightness of the bridge connection and two facade languages. The ground floor is also ridiculously active if they build it as designed.
 
The trees that are on the building do not appear to be experiencing the same season as the trees surrounding the building.
 
datadyne007 said:
Materiality will really help to visually break up the massing as long as the materials are of quality. Despite being one giant building, it reads as two because of the lightness of the bridge connection and two facade languages. The ground floor is also ridiculously active if they build it as designed.
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To clarify: I wasn't complaining, just marveling.
 
Pretty sure I'll be moving into AVA this month. My living situation has degraded, and my friend landed a great new job so together we can afford a 2 bed. Same pros everyone else is talking about: new construction, pretty decent square footage, new appliances, gym, w/d in unit, central air, right on the mystic and the orange line. The bars are kind of corporate but they are a few blocks closer than where I live, same for pizza and coffee. Until they extend the trail through the bus yard my bike commutes gonna suck, but I think the OL makes up for it.

We were looking at places in the North End, Brighton, and Somerville too. Same prices for absolute dumps. All the other new construction is almost a grand more a month (well, aside from the batch yard in Everett, but you don't get anything outside the complex). The lobby themeing is pretty lame, I'd prefer just some clean lines, but whatever. Courtyard with lots of grills is nice too.
 
was walking around there tonight and i have to say it still has quite a ways to go (i know much is to come)... there were a few people, but overall just felt like legacy place in dedham, but with streets. they're gonna need a lot more residential and "normal" retail - ie convenience stores etc - to make this not feel like a mall... definitely an area with a ton of potential, though.

also, i hope when they take down the mccarthy overpass they connect assembly with normal streets, rather than totally cut off other than the two entrances.
 
FK4 said:
also, i hope when they take down the mccarthy overpass they connect assembly with normal streets, rather than totally cut off other than the two entrances.
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I think you may be confusing the McCarthy Overpass with the 93 overpass. Taking down the McCarthy will help knit the Union Square/Brickbottom/East Somerville area back together but won't impact access to Assembly.
 
Alex said:
I think you may be confusing the McCarthy Overpass with the 93 overpass. Taking down the McCarthy will help knit the Union Square/Brickbottom/East Somerville area back together but won't impact access to Assembly.
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Is there another thread where people are talking about this? I would love to see that come down and maybe be turned into a 4-lane highway in a trench for commercial traffic up until Route 16 with commuter rail service significantly increased on the Haverhill and Lowell lines. I seriously can't see walkability into this new neighbourhood from other parts of Somerville until that comes down.
 
FK4 said:
was walking around there tonight and i have to say it still has quite a ways to go (i know much is to come)... there were a few people, but overall just felt like legacy place in dedham, but with streets. they're gonna need a lot more residential and "normal" retail - ie convenience stores etc - to make this not feel like a mall... definitely an area with a ton of potential, though.

also, i hope when they take down the mccarthy overpass they connect assembly with normal streets, rather than totally cut off other than the two entrances.
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I moved into the area recently as well and agree. I will say that on a Friday and Saturday night, all the bars and restaurants are completely packed and people are around until at least midnight-1am. Even during the week there is a good crowd in most of the establishments.

Its still not a "real" area, but its a pretty fun place to live on the weekends.
 
FK4 said:
was walking around there tonight and i have to say it still has quite a ways to go (i know much is to come)... there were a few people, but overall just felt like legacy place in dedham, but with streets. they're gonna need a lot more residential and "normal" retail - ie convenience stores etc - to make this not feel like a mall... definitely an area with a ton of potential, though.
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It will. These are smart developers. It will all get done, and likely done very well. After the planned phases are done, look for the strip mall and Home Depot to get redev'd as well.
 
Kmart and the other Assembly Mall stores go a long way to being the "convenience store" (and a lot of other categories of corner store), but I get that it feels wrong because it is on the wrong side of an ocean of parking (even though, objectively, they've got way more variety than most "interesting" little stores)

Still, it isn't going to take much in the way of more "real" people (resident or Partners' workers) before you get retail to serve them. We've talked Trader Joe's, for example (even so, a slot in the Mall may make more sense)
 
Arlington said:
Kmart and the other Assembly Mall stores go a long way to being the "convenience store" (and a lot of other categories of corner store), but I get that it feels wrong because it is on the wrong side of an ocean of parking (even though, objectively, they've got way more variety than most "interesting" little stores)

Still, it isn't going to take much in the way of more "real" people (resident or Partners' workers) before you get retail to serve them. We've talked Trader Joe's, for example (even so, a slot in the Mall may make more sense)
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Yeah - and again I hope that when the area is more fleshed out, there will be smaller convenience stores. We need a bodega here and there - those guys that will keep their open 24/7. The big boxes for the most part won't or can't do late night service. And growing up around here the small stores are what make a place "real". But overall I'm pretty confident this place is headed the right direction and look forward to what curtatone does with his planned vision for further expansion of the developable lands.
 
Lease signed, moving in 11 days.

To celebrate, some pics of the partners site:
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Just in time for patio season at River Bar and for the stupid tent to come off Slumbrew... ;p
 
Don't even live there yet and I'm practically a regular at Riverbar
 
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