Davis Square Somerville Infill and Small Development

Three of the four hotel proposals conform to the existing zoning's height limit (4 stories, 50 feet).

Saracen proposes a 6 story, 60 foot building. That won't outright disqualify it, but it's a small strike against it. It would become the tallest building in the Square if built.

I don't like the idea of moving the farmers' market into a parking garage. Much better to find another nearby surface parking lot to put it on. I've been to the Medford Winter Farmers' Market in the Hyatt hotel garage, and it's dreary and dismal.
 
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SIX stories! What is the world coming to!?

Davis Square development seems to bring out the latent NIMBYism in everyone.
 
I don't know where the farmer's market is now (where exactly?) but why not close Winter St? Seems to be the closest street to the square which can easily be closed.

Actually, better yet, Meacham Rd? or even Seven Hills Park?
 
The farmers' market is now on half of the parking lot that the city wants to sell to the hotel developer.

You can't really close residential streets (which include Meacham and Winter) for this.

Seven Hills Park? Maybe, but I'd be concerned about the trucks ruining the grass.
 
Meacham only wraps around some warehouse-looking building, so what's wrong with closing that between Dover & Buena Vista?
 
The 'warehouse-looking building' is a publishing company, Candlewick Press. I suspect they have some need for loading docks, as does the Somerville Theatre on the other side of Meacham.
 
FFS. Many farmers' markets in NYC occupy parking lanes or somesuch. Trucks can park some distance away and either quickly unload or cart stuff from not so far away. There are so many solutions that don't involve leaving a vacant lot in the middle of Davis Square that I don't know where to start. In no world should a temporary pop-up amenity that can be easily reconfigured have priority over a permanent redevelopment in any case.
 
czsz said:
FFS. Many farmers' markets in NYC occupy parking lanes or somesuch. Trucks can park some distance away and either quickly unload or cart stuff from not so far away. There are so many solutions that don't involve leaving a vacant lot in the middle of Davis Square that I don't know where to start. In no world should a temporary pop-up amenity that can be easily reconfigured have priority over a permanent redevelopment in any case.
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I'm certainly not a proponent of vacant space, but have you ever had to unload a delivery truck?
 
I see people dealing with awkward unloading situations in NYC all the time. I've done it personally on moving days many times. It might be harder, but it can be done.

Back in the 90s, sprawl advocates used to always ask "have you ever had to park far away and schlep your groceries/furniture/TV/whatever to your trunk?" At some point, we have to trade better vehicle access for urbanism, unless we want the world looking like a Wal-Mart parking lot.
 
czsz said:
I see people dealing with awkward unloading situations in NYC all the time. I've done it personally on moving days many times. It might be harder, but it can be done.

Back in the 90s, sprawl advocates used to always ask "have you ever had to park far away and schlep your groceries/furniture/TV/whatever to your trunk?" At some point, we have to trade better vehicle access for urbanism, unless we want the world looking like a Wal-Mart parking lot.
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Ironically, studies show people more willingly park much further from an entrance in a big box lot than they would tolerate (ie they would prefer to circle around) for street parking.
 
^ At big box stores you can often get someone to carry your heavy crap for you, or bring a fun wheely-gig out to the car with your junk on it. But yeah, lots of people tend to be lazier when it comes to parking close to home.
 
DominusNovus said:
I'm certainly not a proponent of vacant space, but have you ever had to unload a delivery truck?
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I used to unload a full semi of 55gal drums by hand in a half hour or so. It's not bad when its your job. I can't imagine produce being any harder, and farmer trucks are usually half the size.

Also, all the food for the restaurants doesn't magically appear in kitchens. At the place I used to run the guy had to park a few hundred feet away, load it on a handtruck, and then cross the street and squeeze it through a 5' alley and down some really old steep stairs. That's pretty much the norm around here. I can see a consumer having to walk a far distance with something heavy being an issue, but the actual delivery people do this every day, its no big deal.
 
NIMBYs have successfully slowed the pace of this project. Sounds like Curatone won't cave into the naysayers though.

Link
 
I feel like we've discussed this somewhere on aB, but I couldn't easily locate it.

Recent Cambridge Day story:
Davis Square braces for pair of redevelopments, shaking up a plaza, Elm Street and their retailers
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Seems to be one of the project sites:
www.7thspokesomerville.com

7th SPOKE

www.7thspokesomerville.com www.7thspokesomerville.com

Anyone know more about this and/or if it's covered in another aB thread somewhere?
 
It's been discussed in the Somerville Infill thread only very recently.

Windows facing the square for Phase 1 were boarded up recently and there is virtually no progress visible from the exterior. Windows on the back half have been boarded up for months I'm fairly certain. The article mentions a "late 2022" start date, but unclear if that's the new construction lab building in Phase 2 or just Phase 1.

Also, important to note and keep track of:

“We are working with several of the existing tenants to relocate back into the project or to find them homes that are nearby in the neighborhood or in Davis Square,” Liles said. The company is working to put the current tenants back “in a very affordable environment that’s equal to or lesser than their current rents.” In the plan Asana presented to residents, the office or life-sciences tenants on the upper floors will be leased at market rates that will subsidize the retail and small businesses to maintain an active ground-floor presence.
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This is the same developer has priced out/shuttered small businesses out of Harvard Square due to rent hikes, so while this promise sounds encouraging, we're going to have to wait and see if Davis will be left with anything after they're done here.

Also, interesting to note that Scape is now targeting lab space in Davis, with no start date in mind yet. Lending must be pretty difficult if a student-housing company can only get some glimmer of a promise of a loan for lab space, and to be honest, this stretch of Elm Street should really only host residential. Lab's fine I suppose if they maintain the tenants, but I believe they only have an agreement with The Burren, and there's no promise from Scape in the same way Asana talks about their existing tenants.
 
Yes, they've noted it's temporary until they close. They've also said they intend on returning to the site and expanding to be bigger than they are today..
 
Been a minute since I’ve been at Davis T.

some fun old facts:
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Also, since when can you adtervise beer as such?? I cannot recall ever seeing beer/alc adverts anywhere in the T. Just me?
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