Union Square Somerville Infill and Small Developments

Three condos from this project are now listed on Zillow. Average is $900/sqft. Crazy. Some unique lofted rooms on the upper levels.

E00E06AA-21B2-451C-8D05-865A629A97DC.jpeg

54C456E9-73C9-40E7-86A3-3C1DE70DA884.jpeg
 
#bancars said:
Brand new residential construction in 2023 and they go with a gas stove...? Has Somerville not banned gas hookups in new buildings like Brookline? Seems like a no brainer.
Click to expand...
This construction started a while ago. I think Somerville (and Brookline) just got on the state's waitlist to allow the ban on gas hookups late last year after the Legislature allowed municipalities to ban new gas hook-ups?

EDIT: found an article on the "Municipal Fossil Fuel Free Building Construction and Renovation Demonstration Project" Which lists the 10 munis as: Acton, Aquinnah, Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Newton and West Tisbury. So I guess Somerville was a bit too slow?
 
Yes. Gas stoves. Those that have always been a staple of "luxury" condos and apartments. Where people would squeal if anyone suggested electric stoves.

While mine is propane... Long live gas stoves.
Also, short live knee jerk reactionism.
 
Varying quality of brickwork in and around the square - but I think trending in the right direction. It really goes a long way to add some nice texture and dark earthy tones. I’ve wide sidewalk will be great for outdoor cafe seating. I’m particularly excited about the brick pathway leading from the avenue into the pocket park on Lake.

007FD117-21CC-4C60-B37E-037B79CB7106.jpeg
50305EE1-2E49-43F0-94B5-848BB6CB3DB7.jpeg
1B211FF2-DCB0-4D1C-A70F-8952B4224000.jpeg
570FD139-09E6-4C7A-AE3D-1BD5196C2043.jpeg
AF141FDD-885A-4FEA-BC2B-371345DC4543.jpeg
E41A5393-1963-433D-AA56-9DE8359B2567.jpeg
9B0DBFF8-441A-479C-BC46-71D354A37E1F.jpeg
23DE2C15-EDBF-46DF-9EC9-B38774486E5E.jpeg
90259A6C-0912-4C6E-8936-881112D293ED.jpeg
EC33C5C9-3BF6-40D9-89B1-502059CCFA40.jpeg
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
Is this Union Sq? I think before the T I would have said no. But now it is right?

Either way, good news - finally a tenant! A bakery going in. That being said, can I rail on the building for a bit?? Marketing a luxury condos…what a disaster of detailing and materials. Not to mention the ground floor height that is about 6ft too short? And the overall bldg height?? So many things this building got wrong. Hopefully the bakery makes up for it!
Click to expand...

Good news, there's movement on this one. The city permitting office approved "wire the bakery store" on 04/05/2023!
 
Equilibria said:
Whole package of renderings are up for the substation screen: https://s3.amazonaws.com/somervillema.gov.if-us-east-1/s3fs-public/2023-04/Prospect Street 51, P&Z 21-181 - Renderings Package 4-26-23.pdf

The mesh fence was a neighborhood request. I guess they need to look at it all the time, so they should get their say...
Click to expand...
Truly insane that they can’t get the economics to work out to have an air rights development above this. Such prime real estate that the city and direct abutters are begging to have a building on instead of this plan.
 
Badusername said:
Truly insane that they can’t get the economics to work out to have an air rights development above this. Such prime real estate that the city and direct abutters are begging to have a building on instead of this plan.
Click to expand...

There's lots of sites to build on around Union and Boynton right now - why would you take on the hassles of building above a substation?
 
Equilibria said:
There's lots of sites to build on around Union and Boynton right now - why would you take on the hassles of building above a substation?
Click to expand...
I think many of the industrial parcels are spoken for in the USQ and Boynton Yards plans. Given that Eversource has already done air rights above a substation in Kendall, I expected they could do the same here. It seems rare that the city and neighbors are asking for a development to happen and the landowner’s response is “no”. Eversource could have leveraged that position to get the parcel up-zoned or exempt from some affordability restrictions etc.
 
Frustrating that they don’t appear to be relocating transformers to clear the ROW for a GL extension. It’s a no-brainer if they are already doing a substantial rebuild of the substation.
 
RandomWalk said:
Frustrating that they don’t appear to be relocating transformers to clear the ROW for a GL extension. It’s a no-brainer if they are already doing a substantial rebuild of the substation.
Click to expand...
They did commit to keeping the potential GLX ROW clear in a public meeting in December:

We heard your concerns about the potential for a future expansion of the MBTA rail line, and while we received assurance from the MBTA that this project will not impede any potential future work, we too wanted no hint of a hindrance for the MBTA.
Click to expand...

REDESIGNING UNION SQUARE’S SUBSTATION

Eversource hears from neighbors on future of electrical infrastructure within a changing urban landscape
binjonline.com binjonline.com

However I wouldn’t put it past the MBTA to say that they don’t need the ROW only to use that as an excuse in the future to not build an extension.
 
Equilibria said:
There's lots of sites to build on around Union and Boynton right now - why would you take on the hassles of building above a substation?
Click to expand...
because, given it's location, It's probably the most valuable site in the whole area.
I would have thought it would make commercial sense to build over at least part of this
 
Great catch @SomervilleRed . I love comparing the apparent attention to detail and tighter build in the old Leins autobody shop (Passiv Haus goal) vs its neighbor at the old Thunder road.

Which do you think will match the render better? Any bets that the rent will be the same, but drastically different utility bills?

1682957418515.png
1682957765837.png
1682957650230.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top