Somerville Infill and Small Developments

I have not read anything about this site, but it appears that the Millbrook Cold Storage building next to Twin City Plaza is having some work done. There are construction trailers and fencing on site. Anyone know more about this project?

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This paper by the US Census shows that what Somerville really needs is employment centers. While most Massachusetts cities are close to breakeven (being neither big "donors" nor "recipients" of daytime residents), Somerville (in 2006) went from 75k residents each night to 52k by day.

The Green Line will be nice, but since what the GLX will do is drain vitality from Somerville during the day, even better would be walking to work.

Somerville is the only Massachusetts jurisdiction on the list of "biggest daytime population losers", losing 30% of its population during the day--as bad as many of the far-out bedroom communities in the fringes of Washington DC we think of as "sprawly". (Partly Somerville gets singled out because it has >50k in population, but other large, close in suburbs like Medford ($57k) or Lynn (90k) do better than Somerville in employing their own people.

Right now, the only thing I see bringing (much) in the way of jobs to Somerville will be Partners' site at Assembly Square--and the the missed opportunity of not massing new commercial at, say, Brickbottom.
 
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^yes but Boston metro seems unique in its proximity of independent jurisdictions. economically, somerville is little more than a neighborhood of the boston/cambridge hub. Despite that exodus, I bet the average somerville person commutes 3 miles to downtown or cambridge. As a taxpayer tho, it would be good to see more office but not too much. I'd take residential and commercial density over prioritizing more office in areas like union.
 
The Inner Belt area could potentially develop as a northward expansion of the Kendall/Lechmere tech cluster... would need some better connections across the tracks though.
 
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Arlington said:
The Green Line will be nice, but since what the GLX will do is drain vitality from Somerville during the day, even better would be walking to work.
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I find this statement to be rather ridiculous. It's not like the GLX is spurring some new development in a wooded area that is being cleared for development. The people are already living all along the future GLX corridor (many woo'ed by the future GLX bought/rented years ago) and commuting into downtown Boston via other means like cars, bikes and buses. The GLX will simply just redirect the commuters onto the T. The same number of people will be commuting into the city. There will be no increased "draining of vitality" than any other work day in Somerville.
 
Somerville is surrounded by the two largest employment centers in new england, and is smaller than several Boston neighborhoods. Unless the concern is about a sufficient tax base, worring about people leaving during the day is silly.
 
and the the missed opportunity of not massing new commercial at, say, Brickbottom.
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That's not "missed opportunity". That's "hasn't happened yet, and won't until the Green Line stations open."
 
There's a community meeting in my neighborhood to discuss a proposed 19-unit residential building in the vicinity of Ball Square:

To: Neighbors of 620 Broadway
Re: Proposed Development of 620 Broadway (now the Shield gas station)

When: Monday, June 2, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The DAV (next door) 616 Broadway

Dear Neighbors,
Please join your neighbors, Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang, Attorney Sean O'Donovan, and developers Gorka and Laurentzi Brabo, to learn about and view proposed plans for a 19-unit residential development at 620 Broadway. The development team will be on-hand to present the plans and to answer any questions you may have.

For more info or questions contact:
Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang, (617) 629-8033, mniedergang@somervillema.gov
or
Attorney Sean O'Donovan, (617) 629-8888, sean@odolaw.com
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This gas station is a stone's throw from the future Green Line stop. It seems a bit wasteful to not have commercial space on the first floor.
 
Not sure if there is a different thread for this, apologies if so.
I noticed that all the units in the cobble hill plaza (washington st. beside proposed new GLX station) are closing down or closed. I found online that the whole place is being demolished in August. I could only find one link about whats going up there, doesn't look that aesthetically pleasing, anyone got any further info on whats proposed here? thanks.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news..._development_proposed_for_washington_str.html
 
It looks like a reasonable development for that area. Not everything has to be a grand aesthetic masterpiece, sometimes generic five story mixed use with retail at the bottom does the trick, especially for that stretch of Washington St which as of now is pretty horrid considering the fact that it's about to become a prime piece of real estate with the GLX. That said I would like to see them going higher in some of the lots around there, in order to get in more units of housing.
 
I'm not saying everything has to be a grand aesthetic masterpiece, Just looks a bit ugly to me, why settle for mediocrity?
 
Doesn't look so bad. Actually it's quite progressive considering the usual new building in Somerville is some variation of schlocky PoMo.
 
Hay look, there's a real building in there!
 
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