Somerville Infill and Small Developments

The 7-unit condo building going up at 311 Highland Ave has three units listed for $1,595,000 and the remaining four all listed for over $1,300,000.

No way condos here go for that much, right?

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That site was proposed for a similar project in the early 2000's and the project was denied by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
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Too bad. This thing is a massive waste of space.

Simpkins’s newest project at 311 Highland Avenue will have seven units, all of which are single-floor residences with over 2,000 square feet of living space.
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Anyone know what the hell is going on with the old Social Security / Dunkin Donuts building on the corner of Chester and Elm? They rebuilt the corner, started adding windows, then started to demolish the back half of the building. It's bizarre.

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From what I understand it was originally a renovation project. The building was found to be structurally deficient and then a convoluted process began of preserving the roof framing and foundation while replacing all of the interior and exterior walls/floors/ceilings. I'm guessing that had to do with permitting. It's an interesting and confusing project to be sure...
 
I think part of the facade actually collapsed into the street, although I could be confusing it with another project. Wasn't the original plan also to keep the first floor retail active throughout construction? I remember the dunkin was open until things went screwy.
 
The "collosal waste of space" at 311 Highland is due to Somerville regs requiring an affordable unit for developments with 8+ units. Somerville doesn't have the formalized linkage payments that Boston does to get the affordable housing built elsewhere, so developers target 7 units for maximum payoff.
 
Steel is going up for the condo project at the corner of Webster and Prospect. I think this is the first building going up that actually falls within the Union Square redevelopment parcels.

Hopefully the planned retail spaces won't end up sitting empty like the one at the corner of Hampshire and Prospect.
 
The Social Security building in Davis is quickly progressing, and has come a far way from when it nearly came down over the summer. I walked by the other day and it has walls like a real building instead of looking like a deathtrap threatening to collapse into the street.

This is The Somerville Journal's pic from a few weeks ago:
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Anyone have any thoughts into what is going on here? This construction is really bizarre, especially the top beam, extending over the completed facade section as well as it looking like there is nothing behind the top level.

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I walk by it every day .. .and it is just as puzzling as you suggest. ??? No idea.

cca
 
cca said:
I walk by it every day .. .and it is just as puzzling as you suggest. ??? No idea.

cca
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CCA -- looks like some sort of "Facade-ectomy" -- they seem have preserved the historical facade on the main street and around the corner for a bit and taken out everything inside for new construction and past where ever they had / wanted to preserve the facade its all new
 
whighlander said:
CCA -- looks like some sort of "Facade-ectomy" -- they seem have preserved the historical facade on the main street and around the corner for a bit and taken out everything inside for new construction and past where ever they had / wanted to preserve the facade its all new
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No, not at all. They tore this whole thing down over the summer (but left the roof propped up on scaffolding) and have now been rebuiding it in the weirdest fashion ever.

cca is an architect. I'm pretty sure he would recognize a "Facade-ectomy" if he saw one.
 
JumboBuc said:
No, not at all. They tore this whole thing down over the summer (but left the roof propped up on scaffolding) and have now been rebuiding it in the weirdest fashion ever.

cca is an architect. I'm pretty sure he would recognize a "Facade-ectomy" if he saw one.
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JumboBuc -- some facade-ectomies are really bizarre

I was in London once and near Kings Cross there was some old Victorian brick palace being facade-ectomized -- all that was left was one 10 story or so brick wall with all the tricked-out detailing -- a whole lot of steel was in place just to hold it up until whatever was going behind it could take on the support role

Actually something similar happened to the old Kennedy's on Summer St. -- the building dated from 1876 -- immediate post Fire -- but something had happened to the lower 2 floors and so -- after a battle with the Preservation Alliance -- only 3 floors of the building's facade was preserved -- suspended in mid-air while the tower behind it was constructed

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There's little rational explanation for what's going on with the social security building in davis from an engineering standpoint. It's almost as if they keep trying to NOT do something, get called out on it, and have to take drastic measures to back whatever it is into the project.

As far as the "Facade-ectomy" notion goes, note from the 'before' picture below that the original brick has been replaced by a cheap looking fiberboard with some amateur-hour wooden ornamentation (the diamonds in Scipio's shot). As-cheaply-as-possible is the name of the game on this one.

Here's what it looked like originally: http://cdn.patch.com/users/502047/2012/02/T800x600/f53a347203231e1c9fce605aba87ec22.jpg
 
It's just striking me how much this building is falling into a heretofore undiscovered uncanny valley of construction... I... what... it's a building, right?...
 
They trimmed the beam back. Now to figure out what is going on with the lack of a roof.

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