Somerville Infill and Small Developments

BussesAin'tTrains said:
Fair enough. Sorry if I came off poorly. For what it's worth, I think Somerville's independence and positioning are the biggest factors in the attention it gets from journalists.
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That's definitely a factor, and one I hadn't really considered. I also think the spill over from Cambridge to Somerville is a different demographic that that of Boston/south end moving in to Southie. I'm new enough to the area but I think there seems to be a willingness on Somervilles part to change it's image. I'm not sure if there is the same willingness in Southie.
 
Aside from what's already been mentioned I'd say geography plays a big part. Somerville is surrounded on all sides by dense urban communities, whereas Southie is surrounded mostly by water and the SE Expressway. Sure, Somerville's cut off by the same highway but it feels like an anomaly of the area whereas with Southie it's the rule. Somerville is a place that anybody can pass through on the way to a bunch of other places, whereas you have to make an active decision to go to Southie.

I also don't consider the Seaport District as the same thing at all, I lump it more in with downtown development, considering the cost and the types of people it attracts to live there, whereas Southie and Somerville are both clearly removed from the city center. I think too people don't see the Seaport District as a destination because they associate it with parking problems downtown, just with less convenient T access. Somerville has better parking but it's also walkable, bikeable and soon... T-able.

Of course the cultural factors apply as well - and things like proximity to Harvard/MIT and the intellectual culture surrounding it - but Occam razor tells me these kinds of trends usually result from the simple layout of the land.
 
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^ I think that's largely right. I also want to make the distinction between whether or not Somerville is actually more deserving of the lionism it receives, versus why journalists hype Somerville over Southie given that they both have large amounts of (re)development.
 
Somerville is also much safer than Southie. Southie is still a tough spot, and some of its toughest are at the main access points of Broadway and andrew.

Somerville is very safe. The mail the crime stats each year, and although I always felt safe, was shocked by how low the whole city is. The city is a good balance of yuppie cambridge overflow and a real hard working entrepreneurial immigrant and long time local population. It's really a huge reason why we settled here instead of Southie, at many times and areas it just didn't feel safe.

Plus the 'old Southie' hostility to new people is much stronger than on the somerville side. I've literally seen fights picked with people over it.
 
pixelsand8 said:
Southie is surrounded mostly by water and the SE Expressway. Sure, Somerville's cut off by the same highway but it feels like an anomaly of the area whereas with Southie it's the rule. Somerville is a place that anybody can pass through on the way to a bunch of other places, whereas you have to make an active decision to go to Southie.
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Very good point. The analogy is a fair one, but imperfect.
Southie --> Somerville
Seaport ---> Kendall
Broadway stop (technically in the hood but walking distance only to those close to the nieghborhood/city border) --> Porter/Davis and Sullivan/Assembly

What pixels hits on is Somerville's integration with its neighbors is better and will continue to get better. If you work in Kendall/Harvard or say Lexington, you're less keen on easy access to Boston.
 
Some of my friends used to refer to Somerville as Cambridge's snotty-nosed little brother back around the turn of the century. Somerville has changed noticeably since then. I would call it Cambridge's hipster teen brother now.
 
Ate at east end grille last night...what a cool spot. That part of Broadway is really starting to look nice. The crowd at the bar was interesting, Hispanic locals and flannel wearing hipsters. They even have a parking lot.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
^ I think that's largely right. I also want to make the distinction between whether or not Somerville is actually more deserving of the lionism it receives, versus why journalists hype Somerville over Southie given that they both have large amounts of (re)development.
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The thing is, it's not development that drives coverage from journalists. They are more interested in cultural trends, especially if they can be applied more broadly geographically. Southie is interesting but it's a one of a kind deal where it was once a white "ghetto" that has been gentrified by former suburbanites and downtown professionals that want dense urban living with easy commutes and access to nightlife, jogging trails (for the fitness crowd) etc. There is some of that in Somerville but it's more of an intellectual artsy crowd that wants urban living but also yards and squares for gardens and public festivals. For whatever reason, this sect is more interesting to write about - it's some combination of being a trendsetter/hipster that people love to profess hate for (they price out the "real folk" with their "culture") yet at the same time make the most appealing places to live in - all that "art" and "culture" those dastardly hipsters are responsible for tends to make neighborhoods nice. It's the same thing as artists and gays making a neighborhood palpable, lively and then sterile once all the rich yuppie professionals move in.

The South End went through this long ago, Fort Point a little more recently but I feel like Southie largely skipped a step and went from white urban poor to yuppie real quick. Somerville on the other hand is sort of in the middle/back end the "hipster phase", where the artists types are being pushed to Medford and beyond, so they can make those places nicer, price out all the "real" locals there and we can do the same tired jig all over again. Other things that enhance Somerville's appeal to journalists is that compared to Southie it's more ethnically diverse with it's large Latin population, and perhaps most important is the rapid transit line expansion.

So no, there really isn't much actual development happening in Somerville, and frankly there isn't THAT much even proposed outside of Union Square. Broadway in Winter Hill probably looks no different than 20 years ago, still fairly run down but check the real estate prices. Gentrification/Speculation, not development (other than transit expansion) is the story, and that already happened in Southie and not in a very interesting way to write about. I've always felt too that Dorchester made a better geographical comparison to Somerville, seeing that it's more similar in size and distance to downtown, has diversity, squares and yards. Of course it's a lot more sketchy which has probably killed a lot of development/gentrification potential to this point (in spite of already having heavy rail), for better or worse.
 
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Good. This lot has been a fenced off nasty eyesore the entire time I've lived in the area.
 
Alex said:
An update on 515 Somerville Avenue. Certainly didn't see this coming... http://somerville.wickedlocal.com/article/20141023/NEWS/141028546

The article- along with the city's press release- fails to mention the fact there was just a plan to build housing before the planning board.
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This consolidates 2 fire stations that are close to transit (Porter and Union) into a spot that is further from transit. Presumably the old stations will be redeveloped. It all seem reasonable to me.

The standing proposal for the site is A) ugly and B) loaded with surface parking:

http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/140912%20Somerville%20515%20Special%20Permit.pdf
 
Very interesting article! This is the first time I've seen in print that both the mayor and the alderman are already considering the cost of a new high school.

This does invite a fun exercise in site speculation.

Curtatone has indicated that he'd like to rebuild all of Somerville's main municipal buildings: fire and police HQs, main library, high school, and maybe even city hall. Where would they all go?

New fire HQ - 515 Somerville Ave, in the middle of a main thoroughfare, so that's great.

New library - City is considering the current site of Ricky's.

New police HQ - This one's tricky. Ideally it would be in the heart of the city, so between the Fitchburg and Lowell tracks and west of McGrath. One option would be in the "radiator" parcel US2 will redevelop right next to the new USquare T stop--but that would be a shame to waste space so close to the T on a police station. Other option could be over by Brickbottom, though that is quite hidden away.

New high school - Two spots come to mind: Boynton Yards along the Fitchburg tracks, or Inner Belt. No other place has large enough parcels.
 
Could they use the old library site to expand the existing HS?
 
I wonder what would happen to the current high school site it moves. Could that building be converted to condos? Could some of the parking lots closer to Highland be built on? With those views think of what disturbingly high prices the market could command. Personally I'd much rather they leave the high school where it is and use Boynton Yards and Inner Belt to try and get high density affordable housing built.
 
There are many historic homes for sale around Boston, but only one can claim to be the site of the world’s first residential telephone connection.
The 4.958-square-foot house at 1 Arlington St. in East Somerville, on the market for $899,000 — down from the original $995,000 asking price — has a fascinating history as well as mahogany and cherry woodwork, original wood floors and brass chandeliers and sconces.

The 10-bedroom house was built in two phases: the 1858 Italianate main house built for the Tufts family and an Eastlake-style renovation and side addition completed in 1888.

In 1877, then-owner Charles Williams Jr., a Hub telegraph manufacturer who teamed up with his business tenant Alexander Graham Bell to build the first telephones, had the world’s first home phone. It was connected via a dedicated line to his office at 109 Court St. with “1” and “2” as the phone numbers.

The home is on the city, state and the national registers of historic places.
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Despite its condition, the historic home is starting to connect with potential buyers. Several are considering converting it into a bed and breakfast, a use that the city of Somerville will allow, and the Lincoln-based Telephone Museum is interested in buying the house as its headquarters.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2014/12/east_somerville_home_rings_with_history


https://www.facebook.com/TelephoneMuseum

http://telephone-museum.org/
 
PaulC said:
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2014/12/east_somerville_home_rings_with_history


https://www.facebook.com/TelephoneMuseum

http://telephone-museum.org/
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Charles Williams was the first Telecommunications Venture Capitalist, ran the first telecom incubator, and as a result of receiving stock in the American Bell Telephone he became the first of a long line of Telecom Multimillionaires

in 2006 the IEEE Boston Section celebrated the famous line "Mr. watson Come here I want to see you -- spoken @ the secret lab in the garrod of 16 Exeter Place using instruments built by Watson at Charles Williams Co. @ 109 Court St.

http://192.185.23.37/publications/milestone/tele_ms/tele_ms_article.pdf

in 2012 IEEE Boston Section newsletter "the Reflector" commented on the history of innovation in Boston with the following:
http://192.185.23.37/news/editorial/2012/mar_editorial.html
Williams became one of the leading manufacturers of telegraphic instruments, bought-out his partner. In 1856, he moved into space above a Billiard Hall in a large building on 109 Court Street. By 1868, when the young Thomas Edison rented some loft space from Williams, 109 Court St. could be considered Boston's first Innovation District, with ''Charles Williams Jr. Manufacturer of Telegraph Instruments,” serving as its hub and incubator.
On a regular basis inventors, experimenters and entrepreneurs hired Williams to have their experimental designs fabricated, or even to hire some of Williams “mechanics” to work on private projects in the loft. Some of these included: Joseph Stearns – duplex telegraphy; Edwin Holmes -- electromagnetic burglar alarm – led to the Holmes' Burglar Alarm Company.
William advanced credit to Edison for materials, and work. The results: Patent number 90646 Improvement in Electrographic Vote-Recorder; self adjusting relay; stock printer; and a fire alarm telegraph. Edison wrote, “... though but a short time since damaged by fire [3 months], is again in full blast....the work is of a most excellent character... Ten men are employed here. The office of the well known electrician and telegraph inventor, Moses G. Farmer, is also at this establishment.“
By 1874, when Professor Alexander Graham Bell arrived at Williams shop needing help in implementing his idea for the “Harmonic Telegraph,” the two dozen “mechanics,” included a young Thomas Watson, a machinist's apprentice. Watson wrote, “There were twenty hand lathes and two engine lathes in addition to hand tools. Brass, steel, lumber and rough castings lay all about. Williams' workers started with raw wood and metal and amidst the shop, there was one tiny office which handled client meetings and the display of apparatus.”
The work of Bell and Watson, financed by Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a Boston Brahmin lawyer from Salem, would result in United States Patent No. 174,465, issued to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, for “Improvements to Telegraphy” – commonly considered to be the single most valuable patent in history. After the founding of the Bell Company, Hubbard hired Watson for a continuation of his journeyman wages, and a 10% interest in the Bell patents. In 1881, Watson now a wealthy young man, bought some land at Quincy Point in Braintree to build steam engines. This enterprise eventually evolved into the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, which played a major role in WWII.
In 1877, Williams had the first private telephones installed in his house in Somerville, with the first telephone line laid the 3 miles to 109 Court St. 1882, with telephone business booming, Williams sold-out to Western Electric, transforming his shop into the first Bell Labs. He retired in 1886, becoming one of the first of a long-line of Telecommunications Millionaires. By the time that Williams passed-on in 1908, calls were being made to Denver
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Apologies if this was posted already....

http://www.vanyaland.com/2014/12/03...ad-reveals-front-facade-architect-renderings/

Union Square rock club and restaurant Thunder Road isn’t yet close to opening, but its initial identity is starting to take shape. In September, the proposed live music venue and eatery led by Dan Millen and Charles Abel acquired a liquor and entertainment license to operate in the former Radio rock club space, and demolition and construction has been ongoing over the past several weeks.

Today, the owners gave a glimpse of how the club will fit into the neighborhood, releasing four architect renderings that show off a relocated front door (moved to the side of the building), a large open-air window area along Somerville Avenue, and some pretty snazzy pink and blue signage.

Certainly a lot can change between now and whenever Thunder Road opens, but these renderings are starting to show what’s in store for the live music room that used to be called Radio.
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Beacon Street gets another one.

Proposed
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There now
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All renders, etc. http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Plans53Kent.pdf
 
Well it looks better than that crappy 3 story building on Somerville Ave. You'd think this site could support a couple more floors though. In other news this building looks like construction is beginning;

http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Plans53Kent.pdf


Here's a good video segment on residential development in Somerville, with a focus on the Stop and Shop site that was originally planned to go commercial. Also a mention of "block six", the big building in Assembly Row, which is going to be 250 feet high and breaking ground this spring, according to the guy in this vid;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtmxoXzxEdQ&t=8m11s

(I can't get the time link to work but the segment on housing starts at 8:11)
 
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