Davis Square Somerville Infill and Small Development

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Davis Square was still a major shopping area. It had great department stores where we would buy our school clothes and everything else: Park Snows, Gorins, and Grants, plus a Woolworths, a Brighams restaurant, an excellent movie theater, a tobacco and newsstand store, two bus routes to Lechmere station, basically everything a kid like me could want. North Cambridge where I lived was the perfect walkable urban area with Davis Square nearby, plus small corner stores all over North Cambridge of every type (drug stores, bakeries, candy stores, etc.), and churches and schools, all within walking distance. We hardly ever drove anywhere.

I wish that post WW II America had continued to develop on that transit-oriented, walkable model instead of the dispersed auto-oriented suburbs that predominated, thanks to low density zoning and government policies on housing and transportation.
 
Progress at the former Rite Aid
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The local Facebook group's going to lose it when they see the windows are taken out... the industrial windows they didn't even know still existed until 2 weeks ago but immediately adored. Expect a petition following the inevitable 250+ comment thread.
 
-Replacing a planned lab with housing, awesome news.

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Housing Now Planned for Davis Square Site​

“At a recent community meeting, Copper Mill discussed new plans for the development of a portion of Elm Street at Grove Street in Davis Square. Previous developer Scape had planned a 4-story lab/office building on the site but they exited the project in September 2023 and Copper Mill took over the ground lease. At the community meeting, Copper Mill discussed preliminary plans for a 50+ multifamily project to meet the need for housing in Somerville.”

245 elm

https://www.bldup.com/posts/housing-now-planned-for-davis-square-site

This is what the lab had looked like
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https://www.utiledesign.com/work/davis-square-lab/
 
The lab wasn't the worst looking thing, but it was absolutely the wrong use for that land. Good to see this is going back to drawing board for housing. I hope they can figure out a way to keep the ground floor retail small and dense. One of the best features of Davis is the small shops, restaurants, and bars.

The next thing that needs to be fixed in Davis is the Highland Ave side of the square which is dead dead dead after 9pm.
 
It was a bit annoying that housing used to be allowed here as of right, but they made it a forbidden use with a zoning change made in the last few years.
 
393b40 said:
The lab wasn't the worst looking thing, but it was absolutely the wrong use for that land. Good to see this is going back to drawing board for housing. I hope they can figure out a way to keep the ground floor retail small and dense. One of the best features of Davis is the small shops, restaurants, and bars.

The next thing that needs to be fixed in Davis is the Highland Ave side of the square which is dead dead dead after 9pm.
Click to expand...
It wasn’t always that way. I agree that housing is needed. Aesthetics aside, that stretch was NOT a place for a lab.
 
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