Union Square Somerville Infill and Small Developments

Anybody know what is happening to the Quest Diagnostics building on Prospect Street? This morning I drove by and it appeared the entire interior and 3 walls were gone, with the brick facade facing Prospect still standing.
 
This seems like the wrong place to ask this question. Try Cambridge Developments instead?
 
Sorry - I somehow got into my head that you were talking about the Quest Diagnostics building in Central (really, Lafayette) Square in Cambridge.
 
I went over to check out the Quest building and noted the same thing about the walls missing, but it was hard to see much from street level. I didn't explore much beyond that because there was a lot of activity on the site across the street and a cop was looking at me suspiciously. Here is the progress on that building;

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^They excluded Samuels. I have no idea what they proposed, but I'd venture that was a mistake.
 
If they were smart they would go with Gerding.
 
If they were smart they'd quit this "master developer" nonsense and get a diversity of people working on stuff.
 
^ This this this this this.

What the hell is even logic of single developer redevelopment?
 
Shepard said:
What the hell is even logic of single developer redevelopment?
Click to expand...

The logic is to have a coherent plan, with a single developer who can spread profits over multiple building during the development process rather than requiring each building to be independently profitable. That allows for much greater community concessions and a construction schedule based on desired outcome rather than required cashflow.

There are certainly pitfalls to the master developer strategy - namely that everything can end up looking like the same brand of shit.

Personally, I'm glad they are doing it this way. The scope is large for a single developer, but not inconceivably so. I think Assembly Square is going to prove to be an urban design and aesthetic "win" compared to the most likely outcome from a hodgepodge of developers. Not compared to your (or anyone's) ideal outcome because the ideal was never going to happen anyway.
 
Quincy Center shows what happens when you use a master developer. I don't understand why Somerville would want to emulate that.
 
Community path extension on the edge of union square has been approved by MassDOT:

https://www.facebook.com/jcurtatone/posts/510033932456180
www.somervillema.gov/news/community-path-extending-boston

SOMERVILLE – The Community Path is heading to Boston. Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey announced today that the MBTA will build an extension of the path along the future Green Line from Lechmere Station to the forthcoming Lowell Street Station, connecting to the current path and bringing the total length of Somerville’s bicycle and pedestrian path to 2 miles.

Under an agreement between the MBTA and the City of Somerville, the MBTA will first build the path along the future Green Line from Lechmere Station to the forthcoming Brickbottom Station at Washington Street as part of Phase II of the Green Line Extension, which is scheduled for completion in late 2017 with the opening of the new Lechmere, Brickbottom and Union Square stations.

As the Green Line Extension project continues, the MBTA and will build the remaining stretch of the Community Path from Brickbottom Station to the future Lowell Street Station. Last May, MassDOT began work on extending the Community Path from Cedar Street to Lowell Street.
 
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