Some members of the Brickbottom community in the courtyard of their building. — Photos by Maile Blume

By Maile Blume

The Brickbottom Artists Building has provided the space for makers to live and work together since 1988, however, the influx of development in the Brickbottom area is raising some questions among the community about the changing landscape of the neighborhood.

As developers have come to the Brickbottom area, they have sought out community input for their building plans. “We always ask for green space, and we asked for buildings that aren’t too tall,” said resident Chris Mesarch. “We are very protective of the light. And we also have the fact that the area can’t handle the influx of people that would be brought by bigger buildings.”

In December 2022, the MBTA East Somerville Station opened, increasing transit between Brickbottom and the rest of the city. As the neighborhood has become increasingly desirable to developers, the city has been creating the Brickbottom Small Area Plan.

The public draft of the plan calls for areas that were labeled as “transitional” by the city such as Brickbottom “to become regional employment centers that offer a wide range of high-quality jobs.” The plan also says that these areas “can also help us achieve critical housing goals by increasing our high-density housing stock near mass transit, which allows us to address our housing shortage without worsening car traffic.”

“As the community’s vision for development of Brickbottom begins to be put into action, the city’s goal is to help find a balance between responsible development and ensuring that the neighborhood continues to be a vibrant hub of creativity and expression,” said Mayor Katjana Ballantyne in a statement on the plan. “While this project inevitably will bring some changes to the neighborhood, we are committed to working with all stakeholders to create strategies that address the risk of artist displacement,” she added.

“It’s a priority for me as Somerville’s mayor to be sure we are striving to tackle displacement of residents and small businesses head-on,” she said. “Our anti-displacement strategies include creating more affordable housing opportunities, changing our planning and zoning requirements to create more artist spaces, and providing grants to help small businesses. It is vital that we ensure that the people and places who make us who we are cannot only stay here, but also continue to thrive and grow and that includes the vibrant artist community in Brickbottom.”

Envisioning the Future

As the development continues, the Brickbottom community is facing questions about its longterm impact. “I always think of the longer picture, the bigger picture, the development in terms of the environmental calamity the world is in,” said Mesarch. She said of some of the new planned developments, “There’s no green space. The landscaping is pavement with trees coming up through the holes.”

Some of the residents also expressed concerns that traffic may worsen in the area. Resident Charlotte Kaplan said, “We’re going to suffer the constant consequences because we don’t have enough appropriate infrastructure for a really large building where people are going to be coming to work.”

Different developers have had different approaches to responding to feedback from the community. Resident Kim Schmahmann said that the development company North River Company LLC, for example, has planned a building that is “very contextual with the neighborhood.” Schmahmann added that the architect and developers have been continually asking the community for feedback, and taking this into account in their design and building processes.

“We don’t want buildings that are not contextual,” said Schmahmann. “We are a five-story building, and some of the proposed new buildings around us are out of scale with the existing neighborhood.”

North River Company LLC is a development company that has been in conversation with the Brickbottom community.

The ongoing construction in the area has also brought challenges to the community. “When the green line was being built, it was horrible. It was noisy, it was dusty. But it was public transportation,” said Kaplan. “So, a lot of us thought, public transportation – that’s a good thing, we should be in favor of it. We can put up with this for a while.” However, the construction continued with other development projects coming to the area. Resident Melinda Cross said that she often wakes up to the sound of cranes backing up, or the sound of a hammer. “Living with the constant noise has been difficult, but if it wasn’t this it would be something else,” she said.

Preserving the Brickbottom Community

As market prices for condos in the Brickbottom building are increasing, some residents are concerned about the future of the Brickbottom community. “Are the people who are moving in people who can afford the apartment, and also creative, and want to contribute to the community? Or do we have people moving in who would like to change it and see it as an investment property because of all the development and all these labs and things going up?” asked Cross.

Cross said that there are a variety of creative people who currently live and work in the building. “It’s nice to have a mix of people who are in general creative,” she said. “There’s sculpture artists, there’s a startup that’s renting a space, there’s people who appreciate art, which is very necessary,” she added.

In addition to creating a close-knit community, the Brickbottom Artists Building also offers the opportunity for community members to age in place. “As a single person and an aging person, I’m very grateful for the community,” said Mesarch. “And as an artist, it’s wonderful to be living with others. I can go out of my door every day and encounter people and work with the community.”

“The Brickbottom Artist Building is a strong, creative community,” said Schmahmann. “It would be very sad if this community did not survive the development of the neighborhood.”