Gateway Innovation Center | 200 McGrath Highway | Somerville

[Ruairi]

They should really re-think this. This 4 lane design is currently the layout a little way further down the road at Foss Park and it is not any more pedestrian friendly than the overpass.

I'd actually support leaving it elevated and using the space below it for arts/culture.
The skate park under 93 is a great use of space.
How much would it cost to put in shipping container studios and wire them up.
For a project I was 100% in favor of, I've really turned around on it.
The raised highway keeps the cars away from human level.
It will always be easier to connect the streets under it for peds, bikes and cars.

Mass Dot just want to lower this because of the cost of maintaining the viaduct.

 

[Equilibria]

I'd actually support leaving it elevated and using the space below it for arts/culture.
The skate park under 93 is a great use of space.
How much would it cost to put in shipping container studios and wire them up.
For a project I was 100% in favor of, I've really turned around on it.
The raised highway keeps the cars away from human level.
It will always be easier to connect the streets under it for peds, bikes and cars.

Mass Dot just want to lower this because of the cost of maintaining the viaduct.

What space under it? The need for grade separation at interchanges requires that all the space under it is either filled embankment or bus u-turns.

 

[Ruairi]

What space under it? The need for grade separation at interchanges requires that all the space under it is either filled embankment or bus u-turns.

Apologies for being way off topic here but
What??

there is a big tunnel under the target end that used to be a northbound lane.
There's the construction staging area across from the mechanics on Medford st. (where the tunnel opens out)
Theres a sizable area between the bus shelter and the cut through at the north end. (pigeon plaza).
There is also the unused ramp by the burger king. (fair enough, that's graded but still dead space that could be used with a bit of imagination)
If you clean up how Washington st interacts with the overpass there'd be even more space.

There is so much dead useless unused space and the plan is to put 8 lanes of traffic through there SMH.

 

[Hubman]

I agree that this could be an oppurtunity to do something really cool. When you consider the location (close to Union and Inman Squares, plus GLX) it's inviting to make this intersection more than an uncomfortable hurdle between East Somerville and Prospect Hill. Install some art/park facilities and invite a bunch of foodtruck/street vendors in, as has been done in NYC. The location is admittedly unpleasant and loud, but I think some small-scale greenery and soundproofing devices on the highway deck could go a long way. I wonder if the city needs the underspace for construction staging/parking/salt piles.

 

[JeffDowntown]

I agree that this could be an oppurtunity to do something really cool. When you consider the location (close to Union and Inman Squares, plus GLX) it's inviting to make this intersection more than an uncomfortable hurdle between East Somerville and Prospect Hill. Install some art/park facilities and invite a bunch of foodtruck/street vendors in, as has been done in NYC. The location is admittedly unpleasant and loud, but I think some small-scale greenery and soundproofing devices on the highway deck could go a long way. I wonder if the city needs the underspace for construction staging/parking/salt piles.

Want inspiration -- look to the South End, Underground at Ink Block:

Underground at Ink Block in Boston, MA: Plan Your Trip - Urbnparks.com

Underground at Ink Block is a green space in downtown Boston. Learn more about Underground at Ink Block and plan your next trip!

urbnparks.com

 

[Charlie_mta]

Apologies for being way off topic here but
What??

there is a big tunnel under the target end that used to be a northbound lane.
There's the construction staging area across from the mechanics on Medford st. (where the tunnel opens out)
Theres a sizable area between the bus shelter and the cut through at the north end. (pigeon plaza).
There is also the unused ramp by the burger king. (fair enough, that's graded but still dead space that could be used with a bit of imagination)
If you clean up how Washington st interacts with the overpass there'd be even more space.

There is so much dead useless unused space and the plan is to put 8 lanes of traffic through there SMH.


View attachment 34457View attachment 34458View attachment 34459View attachment 34456

The bottom line, though, is that an elevated highway is still ugly and obtrusive visually, and generally seems to stifle a neighborhood's renaissance. I'd rather have a 4-lane surface roadway (two lanes each direction), a wide greenway, and bike and pedestrian paths. I think MassDot can be convinced that only a 2-lane roadway each direction is needed (plus turning lanes), as that is what is already to the north on McGrath Hwy, and to the south on O'Brien Hwy.

 

[Ruairi]

The bottom line, though, is that an elevated highway is still ugly and obtrusive visually, and generally seems to stifle a neighborhood's renaissance. I'd rather have a 4-lane surface roadway (two lanes each direction), a wide greenway, and bike and pedestrian paths. I think MassDot can be convinced that only a 2-lane roadway each direction is needed (plus turning lanes), as that is what is already to the north on McGrath Hwy, and to the south on O'Brien Hwy.

sure, I'd be ok with that but I doubt that will happen.
It'll be two dedicated traffic lanes, a dedicated bus lane and turn lanes.
So instead of using Washington and crossing under McGrath where you have to cross 2 lanes, a big island and 2 more lanes, you'll have to cross 8 lanes. (maybe 6 at best).
Also not sure the north end of McGrath is anything to aspire to. There's no feel of connection between East Somerville and winter hill/foss park.

 

[Equilibria]

APPROVED (with conditions that basically amount to the need to submit lots more design documents).

NIMBYs had some thoughts. Seems like the City didn't bite.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/somervillema.gov.if-us-east-1/s3fs-public/2023-03/McGrathHwy200_PBmemo-033123complete.pdf

I love that they reprinted the NIMBY slides. Quick hint folks: if you feel the need to start your argument with "we're not against development, but..." you're against development.

Also, pretty disingenuous of them to base their 6-9 story reference height on "buildings currently under construction in the area" and not on the Somervision plan they're leaning on elsewhere. Specifically, this Somervision plan:

Looks like 15 stories to me there, folks. Also worth noting that you claim this project is inconsistent with a plan that, while it doesn't cover that property, does include the (previous and larger) massing in all the renderings.

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

Yeah I agree . To me it seems that the Brickbottom folks think higher/denser means more cars. That’s not a given. It might actually force more traffic control and speed reducing roads and lanes. Higher/denser would also likely prioritize the pedestrian over the car, which I would imagine the BB folks actually want. But really, if their idea of the built environment around them is to have more 6 story bar shaped buildings…no bueno.

 

[Ruairi]

I think Brickbottom definitely lends it's self to density and height.
I just don't want a lowered McGrath turning in to the same kind of road that separates East broadway and winter hill.
A weedy, cracked, garbage strewn relic from the 70's.
MassDOT will propose lovely plans but wont maintain any of it properly.
Still, I'm not too worried, it took 6 months to replace 200 feet of 2 foot high wall. At that rate, McGrath might be lowered in 2100

As for the topic at hand. I hope it gets approved for it's full height.
Cant figure out if it has been or if it's approved for 9 stories.

 

[Equilibria]

I think Brickbottom definitely lends it's self to density and height.
I just don't want a lowered McGrath turning in to the same kind of road that separates East broadway and winter hill.
A weedy, cracked, garbage strewn relic from the 70's.
MassDOT will propose lovely plans but wont maintain any of it properly.
Still, I'm not too worried, it took 6 months to replace 200 feet of 2 foot high wall. At that rate, McGrath might be lowered in 2100

As for the topic at hand. I hope it gets approved for it's full height.
Cant figure out if it has been or if it's approved for 9 stories.

It has been approved for the 16/10 story version, I think.

 

[stick n move]

APPROVED (with conditions that basically amount to the need to submit lots more design documents).

NIMBYs had some thoughts. Seems like the City didn't bite.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/somervillema.gov.if-us-east-1/s3fs-public/2023-03/McGrathHwy200_PBmemo-033123complete.pdf

I love that they reprinted the NIMBY slides. Quick hint folks: if you feel the need to start your argument with "we're not against development, but..." you're against development.

Also, pretty disingenuous of them to base their 6-9 story reference height on "buildings currently under construction in the area" and not on the Somervision plan they're leaning on elsewhere. Specifically, this Somervision plan:

View attachment 36610

Looks like 15 stories to me there, folks. Also worth noting that you claim this project is inconsistent with a plan that, while it doesn't cover that property, does include the (previous and larger) massing in all the renderings.

Where is this render located exactly, its hard to pinpoint? Did they redo the street grid?

 

[Equilibria]

Where is this render located exactly, its hard to pinpoint? Did they redo the street grid?

Their future street grid is shown with dotted lines. The big difference is that McGrath Highway has been grounded.

 

[Brick Top]

A little birdie in commercial real estate whispered in my ear that they doubt this will be built as proposed. They said that the lab building boom has saturated the supply end of the market, while a contraction of VC funding has dampened the demand end of the market. To wit, the second Boynton Yards building (808 Windsor Street), which topped off this past March, has not been fully leased yet (by comparison, the first Boynton Yards building was fully leased before it even broke ground), and as a result the Boynton Yards developer has dramatically scaled back plans for future lab buildings—the developers simply do not think the demand will be there by the time those buildings would have opened.

Given that 200 McGrath would break ground in mid-2024 at the earliest, its earliest possible opening would be late 2026. That is an extremely late entry into an already saturated space. The birdie told me that the 200 McGrath developers would need to find a large anchor tenant (e.g. big pharma) to commit to a long-term lease of the majority of the building in order for such a large lab space to be financially viable as currently proposed, which they think is unlikely.

Here's to hoping the developers can get this re-zoned and pivot to housing. 20 stories of lab space is equivalent to at least 30 stories of apartments!

 

[stick n move]

^This is a good sign towards stopping that govt center lab building before it ever gets going.

 

[Morifen]

I just don't want a lowered McGrath turning in to the same kind of road that separates East broadway and winter hill.
A weedy, cracked, garbage strewn relic from the 70's.
MassDOT will propose lovely plans but wont maintain any of it properly.

I run on McGrath from Lechmere to Prospect Hill almost weekly and I can assure you that it's already been a "weedy, cracked, garbage strewn relic" for the decade I've lived in Union.

It needs to be torn down. On the bright side, for all its faults, the now-parallel community path has become a better alternative for that route.

 

[Ruairi]

I run on McGrath from Lechmere to Prospect Hill almost weekly and I can assure you that it's already been a "weedy, cracked, garbage strewn relic" for the decade I've lived in Union.

It needs to be torn down. On the bright side, for all its faults, the now-parallel community path has become a better alternative for that route.

Yeah, I'm torn.
It's a mess but I live right beside it and I'm happy for the traffic to pass 20 feet up and not at street level.
I don't really want a ton more traffic idling at red lights while, as a pedestrian I have to navigate more lanes of traffic to get from East to Union.
Aesthetically, it's horrible, and it probably costs the state a fortune to maintain, but still. I think bringing all that traffic to street level might be short sighted.
There's got to be an alternative way of looking at this.
Also, look how long it's taken them to to some moderate renovations in the McCarthy overpass section, they've been at it for two years at this point and there's no end in sight.
Actually lowering the thing will take years even when it gets the all clear. I don't think there'll be any movement on it till at least 2030 and then it'll take 4 or 5 years to complete.
I'll hopefully have moved long before the first jack hammer hits the ground.
Not because I want to, but because I know living next to that site for years will be almost impossible.