Union Square D3.1 | 50 Webster Avenue | Somerville

Equilibria

Equilibria

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New site for updates is up at https://www.usqcommunity.com/.

Screencaps from the public meeting tonight. FWIW - 270 parking spaces with this. The illustrated mixed-use path won't actually dead-end here, they just haven't figured out what to do with it, yet.

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Looks like Aug 4 hearing to approve. BBJ.

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“Somerville’s planning board is meeting next month to consider the next step in developer US2’s nine-story life sciences building in Union Square.

US2 has proposed a 280,000-square-foot mixed-use development with ground-level retail at 50 Webster Ave. The project would kick off the second phase of the USQ development, one of the most important components in the remaking of Union Square along with the Green Line Extension’s opening earlier this year.

USQ calls for 2.4 million square feet of development, including 1,000 units of housing. Its first phase, now under construction, features a seven-story lab building at 10 Prospect St. that is set to open next year, as well as a residential project at 50 Prospect.

The first hearing on the project is scheduled for Aug. 4. It’s possible more hearings will be scheduled after that date.

Also coming before the board is a 16,000-square-foot plaza at 62 Prospect St., next to the proposed lab building at a five-way intersection. The project would include a small amphitheater with “seat steps” and would “provide a gateway” to Boynton Yards, the other major mixed-use development underway off Union Square, according to a US2 filing. Boynton Yards, which is being developed by DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners and Leggat McCall Properties, plans to include at least 1.3 million square feet of lab and office space as well as 450 apartments.

The 50 Webster project would include a 270-space, below-grade parking garage. The building’s architect of record is Boston’s SGA, and its landscape architect New York-based Marvel.”
 
Looks really good and goes very well with the new usq buildings.
 
Perhaps this is better posed in the infrastructure portion of the forum but, amidst all the surrounding development, is there any plan to reconfigure or otherwise improve the Prospect-Webster-Concord intersection? I know the one-way sections of street leading to the intersection were only recently changed to two-way, but don't know what the expected outcome of these changes were. Does the broader Union Square redevelopment plan take opportunities to improve accessibility to- and movement around the neighborhood?
 
resisttheist said:
Perhaps this is better posed in the infrastructure portion of the forum but, amidst all the surrounding development, is there any plan to reconfigure or otherwise improve the Prospect-Webster-Concord intersection? I know the one-way sections of street leading to the intersection were only recently changed to two-way, but don't know what the expected outcome of these changes were. Does the broader Union Square redevelopment plan take opportunities to improve accessibility to- and movement around the neighborhood?
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As far as I know, there aren't any proposals for the mess that is Prospect-Webster-Concord. It wasn't mentioned in the neighborhood meetings, nor was it included as part of the draft cycling plan. Somethings going to NEED to change there, because that intersection is really a hot mess.
 
Texasian said:
As far as I know, there aren't any proposals for the mess that is Prospect-Webster-Concord. It wasn't mentioned in the neighborhood meetings, nor was it included as part of the draft cycling plan. Somethings going to NEED to change there, because that intersection is really a hot mess.
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It's a tough nut to crack because it sucks in 3 dimensions. Not only to the roads meet at the dreaded oblique angle, but they do so on a slope, ensuring basically zero visibility around the corners.

This is a rare case where Somerville missed the boat on something (usually it's Cambridge). Before the flatiron apartment building went up they could have turned Webster into a T with Prospect on lower ground. I wonder if as they do the US2 project they can use the auto sales lot and try and straighten things out like this. No need for Concord to punch through now that they don't use it for buses. Extend the park across the tracks on a deck.

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chrisbrat said:
with this new one, union is getting awfully brick-heavy. feels strange to be feeling this way, but can we get some glass boxes?
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Bear in mind the proximity of Boynton Yards, which is almost nothing but.

One improvement I'd love with this project would be improvements to the Prospect St. bridge. A deck might be too much to ask, but at least doing a cantilever to widen the sidewalk past/around the GL elevator? The construction site vibe won't last forever, but that sidewalk with the safety fencing is still going to feel pretty awful, though this render artfully hides it with perspective.
 
ya think? 99-101 isn't a glass box and neither is the hulking white slab that's already there (blanking on the name). neither are "brick," true, but i dunno -- the area is feeling very "heavy" and '80s to me.
 
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