The telecom building on 35 McGrath Highway, which, as of now, the DeNunzio Group plans to replace it with a 9-11 story lab building. ~Photos by Mina Rose Morales

By Mina Rose Morales

Brickbottom Artists Building residents expressed concerns over the construction of the new building on 35 McGrath Highway during the virtual neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, July 27.

The neighborhood meeting began approximately at 6:05 p.m. It was the first meeting coordinated to introduce the building project to the community. Thomas Miller, an attorney at McDermott Quilty & Miller LLP, acted as the main host for the meeting along with B.K. Boley, the lead architect with Stantec; Ken McClure, the senior project manager at the DeNunzio Group; and David Kadish, also an architect with Stantec.

The developer for the new building on 35 McGrath Highway is the DeNunzio Group. The meeting was scheduled with Ward 2 City Councilor J.T. Scott and his office. About 52 people attended the meeting

Alyson Schulz posing with her dog Lolly in her live-work unit at the Brickbottom Artists Building.

The building on 35 McGrath Highway is currently about five stories high. It is a telecom building. During the neighborhood meeting, the DeNunzio Group presented a plan to build a 9-11 story building.

Many residents from the Brickbottom Artists Building, a neighbor of the current telecom building, attended the virtual neighborhood meeting. They expressed concerns over the proposed building height.

“We are going to be in constant shadow in our property,” said Kim Schmahmann, an artist and resident at the Brickbottom Artists Building.

“We are an artist building…we depend on light,” said Polly Pook, also a resident at the Brickbottom Artists building.

The Brickbottom Artists Building contains 157 units but 220 residents. The building is a live-work unit where spaces combine workspace with living quarters. Most of the people living at Brickbottom are creative people, but there are also other offices and professionals in the building, according to Alyson Schultz a founding member and resident at the building. She has lived in the building with her family for about 35 years and raised her two children there.

Alyson Schulz’s family photos in her live-work unit at Brickbottom Artists Building.

The original founders of the building got together as a group in 1982. After two years, they finally found a building in 1984. In 1987, they were granted a certificate of occupancy which is needed to move in. The group looked at other buildings in South Boston and Union Square, but Brickbottom had an adequate amount of light, adequate height for studios, and adequate wide-open space, according to Schulz.

Some of the residents’ concerns expressed during the meeting were the new building’s proposed height, noise pollution, light pollution, and lack of greenspace. “I think it’s too dense, I think it’s too high, I think it doesn’t consider enough of the goals of Somerville in terms of greenspace, open space, and traffic impacts,” said Schultz. She continued, “All I’m saying is that this building is not fulfilling Somerville’s SomerVision goals.”

Miller confirmed, “this is by no means a final design.”

“It’s not good practice for a developer to ignore the people in the community, we understand their concerns, they’re reasonable, we are looking to design something that they will be happy to have in their community,” said Miller.

Miller’s involvement in the project ends when he gets the building permit for the developers.

The Urban Design Commission will take up the matter and there will be another neighborhood meeting and more public hearings in the future.

A view of the Brickbottom Artists Building from the highway.