Union Square Somerville Infill and Small Developments

[bigeman312]

I think it's a mistake to assume that most people in Union are living Red Line square-centric lives. There are tons of people who take the busses to Lechmere and Sullivan every morning, alongside those going to Harvard, Central Kendall or beyond. Union already has a pretty diverse population in the commuting sense.

Agreed. I know people who live in that area with roommates and are commuting in various directions. Recent grads looking for cheap rent, wanting to live with roommates where each of their commutes takes them to Longwood/Downtown/Cambridge/Waltham/etc. will look at Union Square. The green line helps those traveling to Downtown, Back Bay or to Lechmere/East Cambridge/Kendall Square or even MGH. And that's a good thing.

On another note, imagine if that Green Line branch were extended to Porter Square. Then Union Square would be absolutely included in the Davis/Porter conversation.

 

[George_Apley]

Agreed. I know people who live in that area with roommates and are commuting in various directions. Recent grads looking for cheap rent, wanting to live with roommates where each of their commutes takes them to Longwood/Downtown/Cambridge/Waltham/etc. will look at Union Square. The green line helps those traveling to Downtown, Back Bay or to Lechmere/East Cambridge/Kendall Square or even MGH. And that's a good thing.

Definitely. As it is, it sits right smack in between the Green, Orange and Red Lines, with plenty of connections to any of them. I know BU grad students who take the CT-2 to BU campus from Union every day. There are also plenty of reverse driving commuters who take 28 or 93 north out of the city, and 2 or 90 west out of the city.

On another note, imagine if that Green Line branch were extended to Porter Square. Then Union Square would be absolutely included in the Davis/Porter conversation.

Probably will be eventually. Will be a boon to have the polar hubs of Somerville connected with a transfer at Porter (the 87 and 88 work fine, but can be slogs).

 

[Brad Plaid]

Neighborhood led development plans?
• Didn't 15 years of that lead to Synthetic City, um, I mean Assembly Row?
• Didn't that lead to forcing Northpoint to have twice the amount of open space that makes any sense instead of hundreds more housing units?
• Wouldn't that have ended up in a Hancock tower being a brick stump half the height with linteled windows?
• etc., etc.

Frankly, I trust developers more than neighborhood groups to do the "right" thing. Most residents (the most vocal ones anyway) want things to stay pretty much the same and usually support only boutique proposals offering relatively token amounts of new residential/office space. Ink Block is one happy exception though.

What's needed is a Jane Moses or a Robert Jacobs. Someone who keeps human needs foremost but also has vision and the fortitude to lead and get ambitious things done.

Boston is no longer a junior varsity city. Let's put our big boy pants on and meet our shiny new destiny.

 

[Revitalist]

Union really hasn't been successful as is. It's been successful because everyone and their uncle knows that the Green Line is coming.

Wrong: the high rents and expensive in Central and Harvard mean that restaurants and developers trying to attract a similar crowd to Harvard and Central without the high upfront costs have invested a great deal in Union and built what has become one of the best food scenes in metro-Boston. It would be happening even if the Green Line were never coming. Union received the inevitable Inman/Harvard/Central/Davis spillover.

 

[shmessy]

Does anyone else find it curious that Union Square has become as successful as it is?

Despite being nowhere near the T (has anyone here tried walking from Union to Lechmere or Sullivan?)...
Despite the parking lots, autobody shops, Goodyear tires and all this stuff we deride as "Autocentric" ...
Despite the urban scar of McGrath and the Target and Drive-Thru Burger King by the ramps...
Despite the light industrial around the tracks...

And yet, it's clearly thriving. What gives? (And why not neighborhoods with comparable disadvantages like Dudley or Chelsea?)

PS: Allow me to also throw my lot in with the pro-radiator faction

Harvard. MIT. Tufts.

To paraphrase Watergate's Deep Throat (not Linda Lovelace, Mark Felt!): 'Follow the mortarboards'.

 

[pixelsand8]

I think it's a mistake to assume that most people in Union are living Red Line square-centric lives. There are tons of people who take the busses to Lechmere and Sullivan every morning, alongside those going to Harvard, Central Kendall or beyond. Union already has a pretty diverse population in the commuting sense.

This might be true but I have to think part of it is due to the fact that Union Square is a vibrant area that's relatively affordable, and that is why somebody working Downtown to live there. A less than ideal commute with bus transfers is part of the price they are willing to put up with for those aforementioned amenities. When the GLX comes in people will no longer have to make that tradeoff, which will attract far more people to Union as a living option, which will certainly drive up rents.

 

[George_Apley]

^ That's exactly right, I think. I was focusing on the claims that most folks in Union are taking busses to the Red Line, which is what I disputed.

 

[pixelsand8]

^ That's exactly right, I think. I was focusing on the claims that most folks in Union are taking busses to the Red Line, which is what I disputed.

It's more about the walking/biking proximity to to the Red Line destinations (not necessarily the T) and Inman Square. Which isn't to say busses don't get used but the practical appeal of that kind of low cost flexible transit attracts a certain kind of individual that makes Union what it is. Once the GLX comes in than it will be desirable to anyone, not just walkers/bikers. Things will change for sure (for better or worse).

 

[fattony]

It's more about the walking/biking proximity to to the Red Line destinations (not necessarily the T) and Inman Square. Which isn't to say busses don't get used but the practical appeal of that kind of low cost flexible transit attracts a certain kind of individual that makes Union what it is. Once the GLX comes in than it will be desirable to anyone, not just walkers/bikers. Things will change for sure (for better or worse).

That is a good point - Union IS going to change in the type of people as much as they type of businesses. It wasn't all that long ago that Union was a backwater dump. When I moved here 5 years ago everyone was shocked that ANYTHING cool could open in Somerville, let alone Union Square. Now it is taken for granted that Union has great nightlife and restaurants. Tomorrow, Union is going to have more fine dining and god forbid maybe even a hotel.

The next place down the road that is as far removed from the GLX as Union is from the Red Line (and that is a total dump today) is going to become the new Union. In 20 years or so we'll build a transit line that new place and the hipsters of the future will be pissed that the place they loved as a dump is going to become nice. And everyone moves on.

Urban circle of life. or something.

 

[Ron Newman]

Does anyone else find it curious that Union Square has become as successful as it is?
...
Despite the light industrial around the tracks...

I'd argue for replacing "Despite" by "In part, because of".

That light industrial area, stretching east to behind Target and west to Tyler Street and Properzi Way, is full of little local businesses, shared-work environments, artists studios, and the like. Think of Artisan's Asylum, Greentown Labs, Metro Pedal Power, Cuppow, Kitchen Inc, Aeronaut Brewery, Slumbrew (coming soon to Ward Street), Bantam Cider, Taza Chocolate, Gentle Giant movers, and a bunch more that none of us have heard of yet.

Somerville needs to be sure that Union Square development complements this industrial activity *without* displacing it.

 

[Ron Newman]

The next place down the road that is as far removed from the GLX as Union is from the Red Line (and that is a total dump today) is going to become the new Union.

Medford Square, perhaps? Good bones, but underutilized.

 

[Shepard]

I'd argue for replacing "Despite" by "In part, because of".

That light industrial area, stretching east to behind Target and west to Tyler Street and Properzi Way, is full of little local businesses, shared-work environments, artists studios, and the like. Think of Artisan's Asylum, Greentown Labs, Metro Pedal Power, Cuppow, Kitchen Inc, Aeronaut Brewery, Slumbrew (coming soon to Ward Street), Bantam Cider, Taza Chocolate, Gentle Giant movers, and a bunch more that none of us have heard of yet.

Somerville needs to be sure that Union Square development complements this industrial activity *without* displacing it.

I don't know, Ron - having the light industrial space available when hipsters moved in is a nice bonus, but I doubt it lured the hipsters. There's a lot of light industrial zones around Boston that aren't full of artisan tea brewers... So yes, I still say 'in spite of.'

 

[shmessy]

I don't know, Ron - having the light industrial space available when hipsters moved in is a nice bonus, but I doubt it lured the hipsters. There's a lot of light industrial zones around Boston that aren't full of artisan tea brewers... So yes, I still say 'in spite of.'

I agree with Shepard. It IS "In spite of" the light industrial. Let's stop mythologizing the urbanizing benefits of light industrial.

Route 1 in Foxboro has plenty of light industrial and isn't attracting any hipsters. Chelsea's renaissance won't occur because of light industrial either - - just ask Jay Ash.

Union Square is attracting young, urban, educateds because of 1) it's perfect location as the center ground level in a low slung pyramid between MIT-Harvard-Tufts and 2) the past decade or so more bike-friendly environment of Cambridge. The new restaurants are accelerating the attraction. Don't kid yourselves that it's because of recycled used radiator businesses.

This is why Foxboro (or as one poster earlier asked - - Dudley Square or Chelsea) aren't seeing the same dynamic. Put Harvard/MIT/Tufts all within 1.5 miles of any of those three towns and make them all bike-friendly and you would see the same dynamic. Dudley Square's hopes don't ride on putting in more light industrial. It rides on the extremely well done new building being built there for the City government offices, the eclectic mix of restaurants beginning to fill in around it and the new housing plans. Dudley and Chelsea each have a much tougher road to hoe because of the location question. They aren't surrounded by Tufts/MIT/Harvard. Union Square simply has an inherent advantage.

 

[pixelsand8]

I agree with Shepard. It IS "In spite of" the light industrial. Let's stop mythologizing the urbanizing benefits of light industrial.

Route 1 in Foxboro has plenty of light industrial and isn't attracting any hipsters. Chelsea's renaissance won't occur because of light industrial either - - just ask Jay Ash.

Union Square is attracting young, urban, educateds because of 1) it's perfect location as the center ground level in a low slung pyramid between MIT-Harvard-Tufts and 2) the past decade or so more bike-friendly environment of Cambridge. The new restaurants are accelerating the attraction. Don't kid yourselves that it's because of recycled used radiator businesses.

I think you are underestimating the hipster attraction to "authenticity", which light industrial plays into. Location is the biggest driver of gentrification (which eliminates the Foxboro comparison as nothing is there), but after that genuine character plays a bigger part than most admit. Light industrial has a kind of organic appeal, giving off the feeling that you are connected to the processes that make your life work. It's why breweries are popular when you can just drink at a bar, and why one is now slated to go into the "light industrial" district of Union Square. There is also the sense of colonizing an underutilized (but well located) space that seems to appeal to hipster types. This goes on in cities across the country. Williamsburg used to be pretty industrial. Hell Portland (Oregon) has a gentrified area near it's downtown called the "Central Eastside Industrial District"http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/10/21/travel/20121021-SURFACING.html

Now of course there is a limit to this. Nobody wants to live near a sterile and toxic chemical plant, nor any kind of chain or ugly big box store, but don't kid yourself. A vintage radiator business is the exact kind of quirky "authentic" kind of business that artsty hipster types (the harbingers of gentrification) eat up for lunch. Creative Ironworks down Prospect Street is another example. Tear all this down and put up modern condo boxes and it WILL destroy the character that lead the area to gentrify. It won't stop any development processes though because people need places to live with proximity and the new Union Square will have that in spades.

As far as Chelsea goes, it's the lack of bike/pedestrian connectivity to Boston and Cambridge that kills it more so than it's urban environment which is plenty nice enough. As for Dudley, there is concerns about violent crime; Boston doesn't seem to be quite at the level of NYC where people will move into areas with shoddy reputations like Bed Stuy or Bushwick. Though I've met hipster types living in both Dudley and Chelsea so even if they aren't a majority there is still something in the area attracting them. I'm sure I will never meet a hipster from Foxboro unless he's living with his parents.

 

[pixelsand8]

Medford Square, perhaps? Good bones, but underutilized.

Good bones but not near any rapid transit lines and unlike Union not close enough to Cambridge physically to make up for that fact. The river is lovely though. Walking through last weekend I saw a guy in a pickup truck decide to give redevelopment an early start. Not sure what he was thinking, character laden diner's like this need to stay;

 

[underground]

I don't know about Medford Square per se, but I know a lot of people looking to get in on pre-GLX who have moved to southern and western Medford after getting priced out of Somerville. They tend to gravitate more towards Magoun and Davis Squares for entertainment/food/etc. than Medford Square though. All things being equal, bus connections through Medford Sq are actually pretty good, and they're at least as good as Roslindale, which is also seeing a lot of hipster migration down from Mission Hill/JP/Forrest Hills.

 

[George_Apley]

It will shift towards Medford. Magoun and Ball will be on the Green Line. They're gentrifying now along with Union. Honestly, Medford Square will be closer to the College Ave stop (and the Route 16 stop whenever that gets built) than Union is to any of T stops around it.

 

[pixelsand8]

It will shift towards Medford. Magoun and Ball will be on the Green Line. They're gentrifying now along with Union. Honestly, Medford Square will be closer to the College Ave stop (and the Route 16 stop whenever that gets built) than Union is to any of T stops around it.

It'll be about the same distance to College Ave as Union is from Sullivan, albeit a much nicer walk. Long term I see gentrification continuing to 16 and maybe West Medford Square, so long as the T gets extended. It's already progressing up Boston Ave (note the intersection with Winthrop and that massive gentrification outpost on 16 known as Whole Foods). The issue is at a certain point you are battling geography and being simply too far from the central urban core. Rapid transit can only do so much to make up for this before space wins (ie Quincy). Where that boundary is remains unknown.

I suppose it's possible that Medford Center becomes an artist "colony" with more performance (edit, I mean permanence) than Union owing to being close enough to transit but not too close to overly drive up prices. The main thing this area has going for it is that as opposed to light industrial it's got tons of natural amenities thanks to the Mystic River and Alewife Brook. It's comparable to JP in a sense. I often daydream about running a Green Line extension from 16 down the Alewife Brook Parkway to the Red Line but I'm sure the landscape there makes it impossible.

 

[George_Apley]

It'll be about the same distance to College Ave as Union is from Sullivan, albeit a much nicer walk. Long term I see gentrification continuing to 16 and maybe West Medford Square, so long as the T gets extended. It's already progressing up Boston Ave (note the intersection with Winthrop and that massive gentrification outpost on 16 known as Whole Foods). The issue is at a certain point you are battling geography and being simply too far from the central urban core. Rapid transit can only do so much to make up for this before space wins (ie Quincy). Where that boundary is remains unknown.

Yeah. I think Medford Square is pretty well situated to take advantage of nearby transit the same way Union has. As Somerville starts pricing folks out the way Cambridge has, Medford Square and West Medford will be the next steps. West Medford is due for some major changes in the future if/when the state zaps the intersection and underpasses the train tracks (which will probably need to happen whether the GL gets to WMed or not).

 

[RandomWalk]

Medford needs a bit more gentrification before the comfortably ensconced mayor and city council are dislodged. They play to their vocal base, which currently fears any change (cf. the truncation of the GLX to College Ave).