Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

Arlington said:
This is where I'd again make the plea that the DCR offer to sell or do a 100-year lease on the strip of dirt on the north side of the railroad tracks for the construction of 6 stories of zero-free or car-minimal apartmetns
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There's a picture half full of parking lots and you want to build on the only green space?

Do we know FRITs next development target? I know they've take a Covid-beating financially, but there's the new squared-off Block 9 from XMBLY and the KMart property since the master plan was drawn. Last I've seen is Block 9 has the clearest footprint.
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Also - I wish they would swap in a similar Rotary at Grand Union X Revolution - that giant intersection just always seems a mess and hard to navigate for both pedestrians and vehicles.
 
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Vagabond said:
There's a picture half full of parking lots and you want to build on the only green space?
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Yes. Yes I do. Because:
1) That green space is really hard to access currently. It is a long schlep from everywhere.
2) That space isn't green. It is a gravel mixed mess and nobody has the $$$ or will to improve it
3) I'm nipping along the edge, leaving a large, unbroken field, and the whole river's edge
4) This is really a brownfield site. It is not currently doing any "green space things" (basically no trees, no "park users")

So building on the trackside in order to:
1) Fund access across the tracks (and up-and-over from all of Assembly). This ties the green space to assembly more than the buildings would isolate it
2) Providing funding for improvements to the park. Let's plant trees, construct paths and play structures. Fake some topographical features.
3) Providing a permanent clientele and political will to maintain the park (edited a typo. Let the negotiation change my "car-limited" into "Car-free" housing. These are super light on the environment apartments whose users will likely use the Orange Line)
4) Providing a host structure for things like public restrooms

If you have a 40 acre "Green space" that is 40 ac of weedy-nothing, or you could have 38 acres of "real park" and 2 acres of housing footprint (I'm swagging these parcel sizes), you've "sacrificed" 5% of surface area, but gained probably 200% of green-space-iness.
 
I feel like this is one rare spot where housing isn't the right fit. The harborwalk path over to Rt 99 is just about to open and a future ped bridge would connect this parcel to Northern Strand and the casino complex. So the underutilization of the space is about to change. It was never used before because 1) No Assembly; and 2) it was a dead end. A fully built-out Assembly would have more than 20k people in it at any given hour of the day. I expect there's a number of things we could do with a big patch of grass besides build houses on it.
- Lawn on D style space
- Facility for a public institution (arts, nature conservancy, library, concert venue)
- Modern sports field
- Sculpture garden
- Community gardens
 
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kjdonovan said:
I feel like this is one rare spot where housing isn't the right fit. The harborwalk path over to Rt 99 is just about to open and a future ped bridge would connect this parcel to Northern Strand and the casino complex. So the underutilization of the space is about to change. It was never used before because 1) No Assembly; and 2) it was a dead end. A fully built-out Assembly would have more than 20k people in it at any given hour of the day. I expect there's a number of things we could do with a big patch of grass besides build houses on it.
- Lawn on D style space
- Facility for a public institution (arts, nature conservancy, library, concert venue)
- Modern sports field
- Sculpture garden
- Community gardens
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I think you are missing the concept. The idea is keep 95% of the open space for the kinds of uses you define, but develop the 5% as an economic engine to gain access to the space via that end of the T station, and fund the development of your proposed uses for the remainder.

No one else is stepping up to fund the usable space ideas you are proposing. (Either going to public funds (ha!) or a developer who has a vested interest.)
 
A strip of land 60 feet deep and 1400 feet long is 2 acres out of a site that probably is 40 acres...5% meaning 95% would still be open...but now funded and vested. Even if you had to take 20% to fund a real waterfront park and connect it I think it’s worth i

and you’d get a pile of zero car housing atop the orange line

[edit: Think of it like the National Park Service building lodges in National Parks—the point of a park is at least partly that at least some can live close enough to walk to it ]
 
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I love the concept, guys. No parking, minimal footprint, the only road is the one they'd have to access the park anyway, soil remediation and sewer work done on the developer's dime, and a builder that wants to help cover the rehab of a 38 acre park while also delivering 20% affordable housing. If they find that developer, I am all in.
 
kjdonovan said:
I love the concept, guys. No parking, minimal footprint, the only road is the one they'd have to access the park anyway, soil remediation and sewer work done on the developer's dime, and a builder that wants to help cover the rehab of a 38 acre park while also delivering 20% affordable housing. If they find that developer, I am all in.
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are you guys talking about draw 7 park?
I think it's well in to the process of being revamped (with no housing)
https://www.mass.gov/doc/draw-seven-park-renovation-meeting-presentation/download
 
Yes, that park. The fact that the only access is from the tips says it is still a waste of a park to not increase its access, and a waste of transit to (1) not connect it (Are they waiting for the casino to build the Parkside access?) (2) miss out on building zero car housing immediately both park side and transitside
 
Block 8 website is up for preleasing. Thought "miscela" was a placeholder for miscellaneous... but I guess it stuck?

500 new apartments built on top of a T station hitting the rental market just as everything will be opening up. Looks like they might catch the September crowd with at least the low-rise portion.

livemiscela.com

Miscela is a pet-friendly apartment community in Somerville, MA

At Miscela, you’ll find amazing apartment homes and so much more. We’ve got a private speakeasy that’s cooler than your local haunt.
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I walked around Assembly Row after my vaccination at Mass General Brigham. (Yahoo!) It's a really nice area. IMHO the Draw Seven State Park is a HUGE amenity that is completely ignored by this development. Despite the wind being close to 50MPH on Friday, it was a nice area but completely cut-off from Assembly Row. I thought maybe I could walk to the Orange Line Station and get back to Assembly Row, but I had to double back and walk under the orange line exactly where I entered the park. It has so much potential to be such a fantastic park, but the Assembly Row development kind of turns its back on it. A bridge to the casino, and an Orange line exit on the Park Side would help so much.

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Java King said:
the Draw Seven State Park is a HUGE amenity that is completely ignored by this development. A bridge to the casino, and an Orange line exit on the Park Side would help so much.

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Even the path along the water will add traffic. Run circuits along the Mystic are much improved now from Wegmans to the Casino, and there are lots of people out. This last stretch is where you get stuck and have to detour into the abhorrent Sullivan experience.
 
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