ARMORY’S ANCHOR TENANT SIDELINED IN MASTER PLAN
Third-Party Operator Model Ostensibly Off the Table, City Communications Lacking
CITY CONSIDERS ARTS SPACE STABILIZATION FUND
As venues and studios pushed out by pandemic economy, developers (Somerville Wire) – Somerville’s cultural workforce is used to scraping by. The question is how long that can last, as the music ecosystem crumbles and arts studios face looming development. Zoning could make development more arts-friendly, but affordability remains a pressing concern. “We are at […]
US2 MISSING DIVERSITY, OTHER HIRING TARGETS
At the moment, the city council does not receive the monthly reports on hiring targets provided by US2. Instead, Council President Ben Ewen-Campen explained, he and Councilor JT Scott receive briefings after every meeting detailing “how they went,” but no reports are shared.
OPINION: LOCAL ACTIVISTS OPPOSE PROPOSAL FOR FORMER GLASS STOP PLOT
US2 cannot be trusted to follow through with promises to the city because it is already in serious non-compliance with the Community Benefits Agreement contract it signed in 2019 with the Union Square Neighborhood Council.
OPINION: WINTER HILL STAR MARKET REDEVELOPMENT HEADS TO ZONING BOARD
Over the next few months, Somerville’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is going to be taking up one of its most consequential decisions in recent memory. It concerns a development project that has large numbers of people around the city excited but some immediate neighbors leery. The project in question is officially known by its […]
OPINION: SOMERVILLE MEDIA CENTER SHOULD REMAIN IN THE HEART OF UNION SQUARE
Mayor Emeritus and Former City Communications Director Call for Public Access Station to Be Allowed to Stay in City-Owned Firehouse Today, the Somerville Media Center is operating under the threat of eviction from the City of Somerville. We believe this eviction decision needs to be, immediately, reconsidered and reversed. SMC, in its original form, as […]
DOES UNION SQUARE NEED ANOTHER LAB BUILDING?
Developer reveals new plans to replace block of shops with commercial structure (Somerville Wire) – In the heart of Union Square, the new 450-unit apartment building and the seven-story lab building are nearing completion. Last week, the owner of a block of buildings just across Prospect Street from the new buildings held their first public […]
US2 EXPANDS ITS UNION SQUARE FOOTPRINT
Two new lab buildings being designed on McGrath Highway at Medford Street (Somerville Wire) – US2, the developer currently leading the 17-acre building project in the heart of Union Square, recently purchased another property on the edge of the square, and is proposing to build nearly a million gross square feet of additional lab and […]
CITY HOLDS DESIGN WORKSHOP TO GET INPUT ON PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING SITE PLAN
Participants use color-coded Lego pieces to suggest housing, stores, business and nonprofit offices, labs, medical/healthcare facilities, common areas, or green spaces for 90 Washington (Somerville Wire) – The City of Somerville went beyond Zoom listening and traditional public meetings last Thursday at a Lego design workshop organized to help understand what Somervillians want from a […]
DAVIS SQUARE DEVELOPER PLANS LAB SPACE AS SMALL BUSINESSES AWAIT UNKNOWN FATE
“The Sligos of the world might become history a lot quicker than people might think” (Somerville Wire) – Scape North America, the US arm of the UK-based company of the same name that has for years planned to build in Davis Square, is set to officially propose its new project to the Somerville Planning Board […]
