Union Square D2.1 | 10 Prospect Street | Somerville

















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I have to admit, I'm going to miss Union Square as it currently is.
 
How much of this is office/lab and how much of this is residential?
 
These buildings look very good + Assembly Square = 2 for 2!

Way to go Somerville!
 
Union is such a CF. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be building all this stuff but transportation in and out is not easy. Especially thinking about office workers. Yes the green line will help but imo it would be much more impactful if union wasn’t a terminus. If it went to porter that would be ideal.
 
617 said:
Union is such a CF. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be building all this stuff but transportation in and out is not easy. Especially thinking about office workers. Yes the green line will help but imo it would be much more impactful if union wasn’t a terminus. If it went to porter that would be ideal.
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Yeah, the Red Line/CR transfer at Porter would go a long way toward helping commuters from North/West of the city get into Union.
 
Wonderful to see some real development in the heart of Summahvul. I remember what a mess it was decades ago and it is great to see the city benefit.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Wonderful to see some real development in the heart of Summahvul. I remember what a mess it was decades ago and it is great to see the city benefit.
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it was a mess decades ago, it's thriving and fairly unique now so what do the powers that be do, they promise that the development will be in keeping with Union and then build massive boxes all over the place. This is fine in sea port or Assembly or cambridge crossing, even in Kendall sq or Boynton yards but to put this generic crap up in the middle of union is completely lacking in vision or imagination. A cool square is about to die.
 
You dont have to like it, but generic? I cant say this red/burnt orange (not sure materials yet) vertical lined tower with notches in the facade and the spiral stepped crown is the default... anywhere. Nor the low rise.
 
617 said:
Union is such a CF. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be building all this stuff but transportation in and out is not easy. Especially thinking about office workers. Yes the green line will help but imo it would be much more impactful if union wasn’t a terminus. If it went to porter that would be ideal.
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Yes that's what I was thinking. The Green Line will be nice, but it will still involve a commute into North Station and than a reverse commute using the Green Line to Union. Not the worst thing in the world but not ideal.

Though I think the idea is that it's so close to Kendall that developers think that office space there will be valuable.

Anyway, Kendall isn't the best location. It is much better to be in Downtown or Back Bay as far as commutes go.

The Urban Ring needs to happen, and it shouldn't be the sad excuse that the silver line currently is.
 
stick n move said:
You dont have to like it, but generic? I cant say this red/burnt orange (not sure materials yet) vertical lined tower with notches in the facade and the spiral stepped crown is the default... anywhere. Nor the low rise.
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it's just variations on a theme. You could put this building anywhere in any of the new developments and no body would care. That's my point. In the bidding process, US2 promised the sun, moon, and stars that they'd develop something in keeping with the spirit of the square. (not something in keeping with big pharma developments everywhere in greater Boston).
I get that people want to see density and development but nothing about this building or D2 and D3 says union square or even Somerville to me. It doesnt give me any hope for what they plan to put on the rest of their plots.
In 15 years, you wont be able to tell the difference between union square and cambridge crossing and that's a shame.
 
Ruairi said:
it's just variations on a theme. You could put this building anywhere in any of the new developments and no body would care. That's my point. In the bidding process, US2 promised the sun, moon, and stars that they'd develop something in keeping with the spirit of the square. (not something in keeping with big pharma developments everywhere in greater Boston).
I get that people want to see density and development but nothing about this building or D2 and D3 says union square or even Somerville to me. It doesnt give me any hope for what they plan to put on the rest of their plots.
In 15 years, you wont be able to tell the difference between union square and cambridge crossing and that's a shame.
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I can't tell the difference between Union Square and any other similar neighborhood center in Somerville, Cambridge, or Medford now, if you're talking about the average building stock.

The distinctive stuff that exists (the Post Office and Somerville Media Center) is being kept, and this is new distinctive stuff. They could have built this design at Cambridge Crossing too, but that's not the point. They're building it in Union Square, and it won't look like anything else around.

Nothing about the Sears Tower says "Chicago" if it had been built in New York.
 
Ruairi said:
In 15 years, you wont be able to tell the difference between union square and cambridge crossing and that's a shame.
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I disagree. Cambridge Crossing is a blank slate with weak connections to the rest of the city. The new buildings in Union look different from the rest of the square, but they are integrated into the urban fabric.

They aren't tearing down very much in Union and the stuff that is getting torn down is mostly junkyards and auto-centric buildings. The old Union Square isn't disappearing, it is being added to. Certainly it will continue to change - there is going to be an even bigger influx of money over the next 10 years than over the past 10 - but the change has been afoot for a long time. There is someone out there older than you who already thinks Union is "ruined" compared to some point in the past that they thought was ideal.
 
fattony said:
There is someone out there older than you who already thinks Union is "ruined" compared to some point in the past that they thought was ideal.
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That's a fair point and it's true that they're not knocking anything of any real importance (except rickies which, for me, is a great example of natural urban regeneration).
I cant really put my finger on it but it's just not what I expected after hearing the proposals and seeing the portfolios a few years ago.
Each to their own I suppose.
 
617 said:
Union is such a CF. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be building all this stuff but transportation in and out is not easy. Especially thinking about office workers. Yes the green line will help but imo it would be much more impactful if union wasn’t a terminus. If it went to porter that would be ideal.
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That will absolutely need to happen in the future.
 
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