Somernova Campus | Duck Village | Somerville

Brief write-up in the BBJ.


“October 12, 2023
By Greg Ryan

The real estate firm behind Somerville’s Somernova business campus is proposing to replace the low-slung structures now on the site with a $3.3 billion redevelopment featuring five significantly taller buildings aimed at “tough tech” tenants.
Right now, the 7.5-acre Somernova campus — located off Somerville Avenue, a half-mile west of Union Square — includes about 300,000 square feet of space leased to a mix of tech-focused companies and organizations like Greentown Labs and MIT’s The Engine venture firm as well as small businesses like Aeronaut Brewing Co. and the Bouldering Project.
Boston-based Rafi Properties is interested in demolishing the existing buildings and constructing five new ones over four blocks, ranging in height from nine to 16 stories, totaling nearly 2 million square feet, according to a preliminary version of the master plan posted on its website. The construction would take place in phases over a decade or more. The mixed-use redevelopment would include retail space and a community center in addition to all of the new R&D space, though no housing.
The plans are still in the earliest stages. Rafi has presented a preliminary master plan to community members, and its leaders want to continue talking with the community before formally filing a proposal with the city. The news outlet Cambridge Day first reported on the plan.
The redevelopment would require a change in zoning. The current zoning was designed for manufacturing and fabrication uses, Rafi managing director Collin Yip wrote in an executive summary of the plan, but “these industries have evolved, and the policy no longer works for their purpose.” Rafi has floated a “climate and equity” overlay district instead. Several of Somernova’s current tenants focus on cleantech or clean energy.
Yip lamented that employers have outgrown Somernova and expanded elsewhere. Greentown has its own building adjacent to Somernova, in addition to its space on the campus, while The Engine opened a Cambridge headquarters last year. The battery maker Form Energy leased a larger space in Somerville’s Inner Belt neighborhood earlier this year, while extending its Somernova lease.
Tough tech is a catch-all term that describes businesses like cleantechs that are developing technology that involves more expensive or complex equipment than an app or software maker handles. Fast-growing companies in the sector, fueled by an influx of federal clean-energy funding, have taken large leases in Boston-area buildings this year that had been marketed to the life sciences industry.
“What we really see for Somernova is a collection of buildings that are incredibly flexible and incredibly durable,” that can handle equipment as heavy as one-ton batteries, said Russell Preston, director of design and development for Somernova.
Still, the sector is nascent. A tough-tech campus of the size envisioned by Rafi would be one of the largest of its kind in Greater Boston, if not the largest.
The developer is pursuing the expansion because of the grouping of tough techs on its properties now, as well as others that have set up shop nearby in Somerville, according to Preston.
“This is not necessarily a speculative project,” he said. “We have some confidence around these tenants. They are very ambitious, very passionate people and they’ve got a lot of growth potential. We want to support the impact they might have globally on climate change.”
The Somernova redevelopment project would be the most significant that Rafi has taken on locally. The firm was started by the Hong Kong native Yip when he was a Boston University student in 2010. Its portfolio includes commercial and residential properties in Greater Boston and Hong Kong.”
 
itchy said:
How about some housing? We keep getting told there's a crisis.
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Crisis for you maybe, but for the people in power and their donors it doesn't seem to matter.

Democracy!
 
Texasian said:
As it stands, housing is specifically excluded in the FAB zones.
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Interesting to note that Somerville recently adopted what is considered to be a very progressive zoning code that includes a lot of potential new housing.
 
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Equilibria said:
Interesting to note that Somerville recently adopted what is considered to be a very progressive zoning code that includes a lot of potential new housing.
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Yea - this is an existing industrial zone, and you really don't want housing next to certain types of businesses. Housing will come, but do we really want it next to chemistry labs, hazardous waste collection points, and sewage processing?

This looks like a huge investment by an already successful light-industrial complex to build on their brand and are going vertical to increase capacity. If anything - whoever owns the property across the street just got a whole lot more incentive to expand housing stock.
 
www.cambridgeday.com

Possibility of housing seen for Somernova plan, while proposed parking amount becomes 'TBD' - Cambridge Day

Early public comment suggests an uphill battle for a $3.3 billion project at the Somernova business complex, though the group behind the proposal is adding sweeteners such as more investment in the community and the potential for housing,
www.cambridgeday.com www.cambridgeday.com

Early public comment suggests an uphill battle for a $3.3 billion project that would add 1.6 million square feet of space to the Somernova business complex in Somerville’s Ward 2, though the group behind the proposal is adding sweeteners such as more investment in the community and the potential for housing,
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Rafi Investments, which owns the Somernova properties, submitted an official proposal Dec. 14 for its campus expansion, changing zoning to create a Climate & Equity Innovation Sub-Area Overlay District.
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The amendment proposes four building types, three of which exist in Somerville’s zoning code.

One is a general building, which typically features commercial space on the bottom floor with residential uses on the top floors; current zoning in the Somernova district does not allow it, but residents complained in October that Rafi’s plan lacks housing, and in the proposed zoning, residential uses would now be permitted throughout the area.

“We heard from everyone about housing,” said Russ Preston of Somernova at a Dec. 15 Union Square Neighborhood Council meeting. Although it’s not in the current plan, “we think it would be appropriate to put that as a proposed use under the new zoning.”

Another building type is the midrise podium tower, a type of building with a base that becomes more slender as it builds into a tower. The midrise podium would have a minimum of four stories and no maximum stories. The Somernova plan proposes a maximum building height of 16 stories that includes two of mechanicals such as air conditioning and heating equipment.

The third building type is a block building with a three- to six-story “podium” section and a tower; this use would have no maximum height.

The final “flex commercial” building type is new to Somerville’s zoning code but similar to one in the city’s “fabrication” zoning districts. These buildings would feature “high floor-to-floor heights, expansive windows, wide corridors, service elevators and multiple loading docks,” which mirrors the language used to describe fab district buildings.
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Should the zoning pass, the proposed development would take place in three phases over 10 years, starting with the community center and research and development building on Tyler Street. Phase 2 would consist of a redevelopment of Park Street and a nine-story building that would include Aeronaut Brewing; Phase 3 would include a microforest and a redevelopment of Dane Street, as well as more space for lab buildings.
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www.cambridgeday.com

Somernova expansion plan is being withdrawn, with reintroduction likely coming in the spring - Cambridge Day

Plans for a $3.3 billion, 1.6 million-square-mile expansion of the Somernova tech and business campus are being withdrawn for now, the developer said.
www.cambridgeday.com www.cambridgeday.com

The reason “is so that we can work with the Union Square Neighborhood Council, city staff and neighbors to revise the proposed Somernova project and respond to comments that have been received,” said Kristin Phelan for the Rafi Investments and Somernova development team in a Saturday email.
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Part of me is happy to see a housing project, another part of me is nervous for the climbing gym and Aeronaut. There's a big part of Somerville, myself included, that enjoys those places as a transit/biking/walking-accessible third place.
 
Aprehensive_Words said:
www.cambridgeday.com

Somernova expansion plan is being withdrawn, with reintroduction likely coming in the spring - Cambridge Day

Plans for a $3.3 billion, 1.6 million-square-mile expansion of the Somernova tech and business campus are being withdrawn for now, the developer said.
www.cambridgeday.com www.cambridgeday.com
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It was exciting to see a large commercial space dedicated to non biotech use.

Apparently Greentown labs is the largest climate tech incubator in the US (significant enough that the future King of England visited it less than a year ago as part of the Moonshot awards).

As someone involved in the VC space, these facts don’t align with momentum I’m seeing on the ground or in conversation with others. Losing an opportunity to advance this becoming a real hub really bums me out.

I live a short walk away and it’s one of the more walkable areas of the entire region. I will never understand people complaining about traffic in such a location.
 
Brandeisian said:
It was exciting to see a large commercial space dedicated to non biotech use.

Apparently Greentown labs is the largest climate tech incubator in the US (significant enough that the future King of England visited it less than a year ago as part of the Moonshot awards).

As someone involved in the VC space, these facts don’t align with momentum I’m seeing on the ground or in conversation with others. Losing an opportunity to advance this becoming a real hub really bums me out.

I live a short walk away and it’s one of the more walkable areas of the entire region. I will never understand people complaining about traffic in such a location.
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It is highly unclear to anyone if Somernova was actually going to be a Greentech space in practice: it was probably branding for what would end up being mostly biotech. Even Greentown labs has a ton of traditional biotech startups. As you note, the climate tech sector is much smaller.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Park St. would get a road-over-rail grade crossing elimination if GLX-Porter ever happened; the traffic volumes on that street are simply too high to have an LRT crossing there. Therefore the likeliest place for a stop is going to be at Conway Park, which already has a fat walkway direct to Somerville Ave. along with ample room for the station. Though a station there could well have a ramp up to the new Park St. overpass. It's very unlikely to ever be on the Park-Dane block as there's just not enough width to squeeze station facilities. If this developer wanted it there they'd have to be baking in the width allowances right up front, which the renders don't show.

So yes...a one block-adjacent station is 100% feasible and well within their purview to advocate for. It's just not likely to be right directly at their front door.
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The neighborhood rose up in resistance to the zoning changes allowing traffic issues, scale, transportation and displacement of artists from the existing buildings. Rafi says they will redesign and a small group has been identified to advise.
 
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