Pages
Stay In Touch
More
© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Somerville residents gathered at Healey School last week for an update by city planners on a proposed development for the long dormant Star Market lot in Winter Hill.
By Donald Norton
On Tuesday, May 8, Ward 4 Alderman Jesse Clingan, along with a number of Planning Department staffers, held a neighborhood meeting at the Healy School to update the public on what is going on at the Star Market lot in Winter Hill.
About 175–200 residents showed up to view a slide presentation of a proposal for two large buildings to be positioned on the site where the old Star Market and Rite Aid stand, and the corner lot where Winter Hill Liquors is, with the 3-story building adjacent to it. Several slides illustrated how the proposed buildings would look, taking over the whole lot.
At the end of the presentation, the meeting was opened to questions and answers. Many focused on low to moderate income housing and how much would be available for the community. Questions were also asked regarding any possible tax breaks by the city.
How the city will be handling the corner location was also a topic of inquiry, and whether the city prefers to have it done in the private sector or with a developer.
Future updates will be made available and the community will be notified.
It was not mentioned as part of the neighborhood meeting, but sources said a purchase price of about $24 million was paid by the developer to the owners of Star lot. Asked if the city can move ahead without the corner property, it was mentioned that they are hopeful a solution can be worked out for keeping it private.
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it.
Why does every building project in Somerville have to be about housing? What’s wrong with bringing some decent businesses in here?
We don’t need more high-end, trendy stores with expensive stuff. We could use some competitive stores here that are a little bigger. An Aldi Food Market would be great here, for instance, and they’re a good competition for Market Basket.
The problem here is more that there just aren’t enough real businesses coming back in here. We don’t need more living spaces, we have more than enough people living here as it is.
What we can use here are more businesses to keep people from leaving the city to do their shopping. I rarely shop in my own city because all the good stores are out of town.
Please, let’s have something other than another apartment building in Somerville. Even a community center would be a welcome change, and at least that would really do some good.
Dear LindaS
Are you not aware of Bow Market which just opened in Union Square, bringing in 30+ small businesses, a brewery, and a comedy club to Somerville?
Or how about the developments in Assembly Row, which are brining in millions of square feet, a combination of office, R&D, hospitality and civic uses?
Or how about the revitalization of Union Square, currently underway, which has plans similar to those of assembly square, including a 25 story building at the site of the planned Union Square green line station? http://www.bldup.com/posts/2-3-million-square-foot-mixed-use-development-in-somerville-s-union-square-moves-forward-with-zoning-approval
Or how about the two new buildings going in Boyton yards, that include 426,911 square feet of office space, 112,250 square feet of research and development (R&D) space and 30,478 square feet of retail? http://www.bldup.com/projects/boynton-yards
Linda, Aldi’s there would have been much nicer for that location. But I had been told a number of years ago that this was going to be used for a multiuse property by the powers that be. SO anyone trying anything different would probably have problems getting it done. There was talk of eminent domain by the city which would have been a big misuse of power by the city. SO I am glad it didn’t go that way. We have many seniors in this area that cannot get over to the S&S and would have loved it to be some kind of store. Now we just take my mother and also some of the seniors she has made friends with that walk by the house over to Medford for shopping. And once in a while we take them up to Walmart where they have a really great time. I am sure this one if they get to build it will be as bad as the one on the other block. The new stores coming in here are none that we can afford or have the things we want. Many are hard to get to for those of us not able bodied. But some things we just have no control over.
Linda:
I agree with you. More and more bland apartment/condo buildings. I’m tired of it. I hope at least the first floor is set aside for businesses, both retail and office. I also think an Aldi would have been nice there.
Ryblogs – Give Linda a break. Other than Bow market, which just opened, all of the examples you list are mostly ideas on paper. At Assembly, it would have been nice if Partners was paying full freight in taxes and didn’t just relocate existing employees from other offices. And the 25 story building in Union is going to be housing.
LindaS is exactly right. Housing pays only 60% the tax rate that commercial property pays, but it generates twice the costs. Every additional residential property contributes to a structural fiscal deficit, unless it contains no school-age children. So every new residential development is a choice between becoming fiscally weaker, or adding more childless residents, who historically have been disproportionately transient and less inclined to contribute to the life of the community.
The argument that increasing housing supply in New England’s densest city will reduce housing prices is nonsense. Housing supply and demand dynamics are regional.
Ryblogs cites a lot of new commercial buildings which, taken together, still represent only a small fraction of new residential development. That imbalance takes us in a direction opposite of where we need to go. Only 14% of our assessed property value is commercial, which is why we pay a 50% higher tax rate that Cambridge residents pay. And they have two jobs for every working resident, while we have the opposite–a four-fold difference.
I’m with LindaS on the Aldi as well.
I agree with others that our already dense community would benefit of a grocery store rather than another block of residencial. Interesting, that others have suggested Aldi. I actually messaged Aldi to check out this location a little while back – and look into this opportunity. All ages would benefit from this decision. I am hopeful nothing is set in stone yet.