Somerville Infill and Small Developments

stick n move said:

Proposal for seven stories of affordable housing near Gilman Square is greeted with enthusiasm​




“The empty lot of the former A+ Auto Body in Winter Hill, Somerville, could be part of a seven-story affordable-housing project across from a 12-story apartment building.

Overwhelming public support was heard for a seven-story, all-affordable 50-apartment building at 297 Medford St., Winter Hill, during a Thursday meeting of Somerville’s Land Use Committee and Planning Board. Public comment is being taken through March 31.
The development proposed by the nonprofit Just A Start and affordable housing manager Somerville Community Land Trust is on the Somerville Community Bike Path, just down the hill from the Central Library and High School complex, and two-tenths of a mile from the Gilman Square MBTA station. The rental units would be offered to folks whose household income is 30 percent, 60 percent and 80 percent of area median income….”

https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/0...ear-gilman-square-is-greeted-with-enthusiasm/

-This is all I could find for renders. The project says its 7 stories so this must have been an earlier iteration with just 3. Nice to see it gain 4 stories.
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Heres the lot:
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View attachment 61407https://www.suburbsofboston.com/listing/73198957/297-medford-street-somerville-ma-02143/
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It’d be great to finally do something on this site. Also - the 90’s called and it wants those renderings back. ;)
 
595 Broadway 04/09
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That project makes use of modular steel moment frames in a way that I haven’t seen as much around here.
 
I'll put it in this thread for now, until more solid plans are established - the Winter Hill Community School is up for replacement, and it seems like they are likely combining efforts/schools and replacing or adding on the Brown School as well, as one new school. I've heard/read rumors that the preferred alternative (unofficially) is cutting Trum Field in half and putting a new school there. It seems to be getting a lot of pushback in the community, less so from SPS.

The MSBA process requires several alternatives that have to be evaluated and have legitimate reasons behind the preferred schematic, so there are other options, but it sounds like the school committee(s) are all preferring this due to its relatively low complexity.
 
494 Medford St. This sat idle for a while but it looks like there's been more movement since last time I walked by.
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The adjacent former K-2 liquor store appears to becoming... wait for it... a dispensary. At least it's getting a nicer paint job.
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35 Richardson St., new build, 4 units on an old empty lot. I don't know what the smaller outbuilding will be.
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Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville​

“Plans are under review for a mixed-use project to replace the two-story building at 199 Elm Street in Somerville. The new building, designed by Neighbor Architects, would include ten apartments, including four studios, four one-bedroom units, and two two-bedroom units. Plans also include roughly 3,500 square feet of commercial space targeting a small restaurant.”

199_elm.png


Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville

Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville
www.bldup.com www.bldup.com
 
stick n move said:

Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville​

“Plans are under review for a mixed-use project to replace the two-story building at 199 Elm Street in Somerville. The new building, designed by Neighbor Architects, would include ten apartments, including four studios, four one-bedroom units, and two two-bedroom units. Plans also include roughly 3,500 square feet of commercial space targeting a small restaurant.”

199_elm.png


Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville

Mixed-Use Project Proposed Along Elm Street in Somerville
www.bldup.com www.bldup.com
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Davis Square needs so much more of this. Too much surface parking or single-story retail. Would be clutch to live right next door to that Revival. It has lovely outdoor seating options!
 
I prefer the first option with the light colored massing on the left. The other option is too fussy with the black over red massing.

Edit: I missed the third option. That wins out.
 
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Weird to split it up into two distinct material halves. Just make it one.
I know people hate "super blocks" but this isn't that large to begin with. The massing is self-similar anyways.
 
I personally like this one because in my opinion it looks like a more boston vernacular style building with the dark red facade and green box windows. The color choices are chosen to give off the feeling of a brick building with copper box windows that have turned green over time. Its not that, its just fiber cement panels, but the look is familiar and right at home in boston Then the left side which was made a different color to break up the horizontal massing and make it feel like its 2 different buildings I feel goes well with it overall.

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A public meeting is set for Aug. 25 about the vacant site – and election-season issue – at 1154-1164 Broadway called the Teele Square Pit. (It is an empty lot that was once a pit that was once a laundromat.) The meeting will allow public comment on plans submitted by site developers that include a 99-room boutique hotel backed by Hilton.
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www.cambridgeday.com

Somerville elections: Meeting on plans at The Pit; backing a cat in the horse race for bike path mayor - Cambridge Day

These political notes cover a meeting on a Teele Square “Pit” development proposal and viral discourse on the catfight over honorary bike path mayor.
www.cambridgeday.com www.cambridgeday.com
 
Bold and sharp would be uncommon (save for the half completed one on Washington St). They will probably go with the Juliet balconies and VE to the third option.
 
Justbuildit said:
Unreal. I really wonder how many of these good, upstanding Somervillians view themselves as the virtuous players in the fight against the causes of homelessness...and then oppose this specific project that should, by any reasonable interpretation, be exempt from zoning regs. I couldn't create a more perfect, distilled version of left NIMBYism in a lab if I tried.

I couldn't find the letter from the group that opposes the church's plan (and I wouldn't share it here if I could) but I think local news should absolutely name the folks who are going out of their way to put their opposition into the public record. This is a lefty church in Somerville taking the logic step of housing DISABLED HOMELESS PEOPLE and that's apparently a bridge too far. It's parody, all the way down.

EDIT: the names of the appellants are findable with some Googling. Worth remembering exactly who are opponents of addressing homelessness and religious freedom and are willing to attest to as much.
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Following up from a discussion about a year ago. Looks like construction is done and this church needs one approval to open the homeless shelter in their basement. The law is pretty clear that they're allowed to open by right under the Dover Amendment, which makes certain exemptions for religious institutions. Now there's a lawsuit meant to stop the shelter from opening.

This is such a great lesson on why and how zoning can lead to absurd outcomes even outside of the basic concept of building housing. Own your own property? Want to build on your own land? Do you have an exemption that hearkens back to the literal first amendment drafted by the founding fathers themselves? Nah, some left NIMBY parents are going to sue you anyways. Good job everyone!


www.bostonglobe.com

A Somerville church said it was ‘called by God’ to open a homeless shelter. Neighbors took them to court. - The Boston Globe

Arguments begin this week in the case about a planned 26-bed adult facility in a residential neighborhood.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Last year, a group of neighbors sued to stop the Somerville Homeless Coalition from opening an adult overnight shelter, arguing that a city board was wrong to approve it, because local zoning rules explicitly say such a thing isn’t allowed.

[...]

At least three neighbors believe the religious exemption the church cites shouldn’t apply in this case and alleged in their suit filed last September that it’s being used to overrule people who have legitimate concerns about the consequences of turning their residential neighborhood into a refuge for the city’s unhoused.
 
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