Somerville Infill and Small Developments

I'd been wondering about that parcel. It's had the previous plans for redev into mixed-use commercial posted in front for over three years with no movement. It even declared that several of the office spaces were leased... guess not.
 
At least the streetwall will be filled in. That mini strip with the Dunkin and wings over lot should be brought out to the street (although its active). Most of Somerville is a 3 story residential so this follows a decent form.

A lot of the individual auto-repair shops on Somerville Ave are also getting replaced.
 
Wow. 4 stories! Are these things going to have elevators? They look like they'll be very big (3br + office?)

I'd love to get a better sense of the site plan (it is hard to tell how far "up and back" the development goes up the hill.
 
The hill goes up but the site is pretty flat. They could have probably made the second row from Somerville Ave 5 stories and be in even shape for most Somerville neighbors expectations. I'm actually kinda surprised they didnt scale it.

The Somerville Ave part will definitely loom large and create a presence.
 
choo said:
At least the streetwall will be filled in. That mini strip with the Dunkin and wings over lot should be brought out to the street (although its active). Most of Somerville is a 3 story residential so this follows a decent form.

A lot of the individual auto-repair shops on Somerville Ave are also getting replaced.
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I think 1 story taxpayer buildings are such a waste of landspace, would love to see them all replaced with some kind of groundfloor retail & residential above.

In particular, that building with the wings could easily get replaced, and replace the wings with a full Hangar (anybody that has been to the Amherst area will get where I'm coming from. The Boston area could easily use at least one hangar, if not a couple spread out.
 
^ I dunno, when I was at UMass, Wings Over was almost always the wings of choice.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
^ I dunno, when I was at UMass, Wings Over was almost always the wings of choice.
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Wings Over Amherst (and now Westfield) = The Hangar.

They're the exact same thing, when you want to sit at home, drink your own beer, and watch your own TV, order wings. When you want to sit in a bar, get a tower of beer and watch serveral TV's, you go to the hangar.

When I was there, wings operated out of the hangar (get it?), only recently did they move the delivery operation out of the hangar down the street next to the Big Y.
 
Thanks a lot, guys. It's 8:30 AM and I really want some wings.
 
bobthebuilder said:
Left over wings, the breakfast of champions
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st_howto_f.jpg



I can't recall how many times in my alcoholic Allstonite youth I woke up at 10:30am to a reheated Wing It breakfast.
 
bobthebuilder said:
Wings Over Amherst (and now Westfield) = The Hangar.

They're the exact same thing, when you want to sit at home, drink your own beer, and watch your own TV, order wings. When you want to sit in a bar, get a tower of beer and watch serveral TV's, you go to the hangar.

When I was there, wings operated out of the hangar (get it?), only recently did they move the delivery operation out of the hangar down the street next to the Big Y.
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Oooh Okay. Gotcha!
 
bobthebuilder said:
I think 1 story taxpayer buildings are such a waste of landspace, would love to see them all replaced with some kind of groundfloor retail & residential above.
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While in general for a dense city like Somerville I agree I don't think it's all bad. Davis Square, for example, would feel completely different if some of the one story businesses had 3 floors of residential on top. I'm not a "zomg shadows!" person but I do think it's important to have dense public areas where a healthy amount of natural light gets in.

The Wings/DD/etc building though can certainly go. Somerville Ave has way too much openness, it's oppressive. Especially on hot summer days. I think these townhouses will be massively beneficial for this stretch of road, so much better than the crappy rendering of the sign currently on the lot - I thought that was the actual project and abandoned all hope for this area.
 
I doubt that tiny mom-and-pop would be missed. There's 3 service stations in a 2-block radius around Trum Field, plus the 7 Eleven and CVS for convenience stores. Shield's got nice cheap gas if you've cash-only, but I've never seen that place get nearly as much business as Hillside Auto/Gulf and Sunoco down the block which both have service garages in addition to gas. Which suggests it's surplus-to-requirement for that stretch of Broadway.
 
It's ugly, but at least it has some commercial space.
 
I like that new Ball Square building.
F-Line to Dudley said:
I doubt that tiny mom-and-pop would be missed. There's 3 service stations in a 2-block radius around Trum Field, plus the 7 Eleven and CVS for convenience stores.
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Well, once the GLX Ball Square opens, this building will be at the new center of gravity. The retail should do well.

F-Line to Dudley said:
Shield's got nice cheap gas if you've cash-only, but I've never seen that place get nearly as much business as Hillside Auto/Gulf and Sunoco down the block which both have service garages in addition to gas. Which suggests it's surplus-to-requirement for that stretch of Broadway.
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It is probably already a victim of falling miles driven and rising fuel efficiency. I'd expect another station or two to be killed off (eg Hillside Gulf, Broadway @ Cedar) once the GLX (and all the bike & shared modes that will go with it) makes both operating (and owning/repairing) a car less attractive. If hybrids or electrics penetrate further, that'll also be bad for the repair biz.

I'd expect Simons Gas & Car Wash in Medford (midway between Ball Sq and College Ave and backed up to the tracks) to be the survivor. We'll always want to wash our cars.
 
Apparently Somerville wants every new building to look like a nursing home. Sadly, they're succeeding. Ack!
 
Brad Plaid said:
Apparently Somerville wants every new building to look like a nursing home. Sadly, they're succeeding. Ack!
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Definitely a blocky lego-like quality to many of the recent building proposals, but that's par for much of the area outside downtown. I wonder if, 50 years from now, our future counterparts will react to all this new stuff the same way I react to this:

fOqmSvz.png
 
Brad Plaid said:
Apparently Somerville wants every new building to look like a nursing home. Sadly, they're succeeding. Ack!
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With the Great Boomer Retirement ongoing for the next decade, it's probably not a bad policy ;)
 
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