Image courtesy of CBT Architects
Boston-based Copper Mill will present alternate designs for its 26-story apartment tower in Somerville’s Davis Square as it prepares to seek approval for the neighborhood’s largest development.
At a community meeting Tuesday, residents and the developer clashed over whether the $260 million project would accelerate or slow rising housing costs. The project would include 502 apartments, 126 of which would be income-restricted, and a retail podium facing Elm Street.
Copper Mill CEO Andrew Flynn said the project would free up apartments in the neighborhood’s traditional triple-decker style housing stock for families, while adding hundreds of full-time residents to bolster the Davis Square retail economy.
“We’ve heard that Davis Square needs a catalyst, and there is a belief that the residential building will create a positive feedback loop,” Flynn said.
The 320,000 square-foot tower would include 13,000 square feet of retail space.
While residents crowded into the Crystal Ballroom less than a block from the development site, opponents and supporters simultaneously clashed in the chat section of the virtual meeting. Opponents critiqued the architecture as “horrible!” and “looks like a bad hotel.” A supporter compared the design favorably to the 308-unit Market Central in Cambridge’s Central Square, saying it “really improved the area.”
The project has been in predevelopment for over two years. Flynn said the project was placed on pause in 2025 in part at the request of former Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne.
“The prior administration – and I am not a politico and I don’t understand all the nuances – we were directed to slow down a year ago, directly and indirectly,” he said. “And that’s what we did.”
A message was left with Ballantyne seeking comment.
The current Somerville mayor, Jake Wilson, issued a statement in January that he expects the city to have negotiating power to shape the project.
Flynn, for his part, said at the meeting he is open to changes in the overall design as well as the unit mix.
According to the application submitted to MassHousing, the tower’s studio units would be split between 206 market-rate units and 69 affordable units. The remaining 296 are currently planned to be larger sizes.
The firm is opening an information center at 235 Elm St. by the end of March, which will include a “handful of options” for the project, Flynn said. The goal is to present a final proposal by the end of 2026.
One notable tenant of the existing block of storefronts, The Burren Pub, has been offered a new home after the project is completed. Flynn declined to discuss the status of other existing retail tenants.
The project has been in predevelopment for over two years. Copper Mill submitted an application to MassHousing in late December for site eligibility under Chapter 40B, the state’s affordable housing zoning law, which would enable it to exceed the existing zoning limits on height and density if 25 percent of the apartments are income-restricted. The 126 affordable units would be reserved for households earning a maximum 80 percent of area median income, according to the MassHousing application.
Multiple speakers referenced Somerville’s status as New England’s most densely populated city as an argument against a high-rise residential project. Many raised objections to the height, appearance and disruption during construction, some indicating they would support the project if height and density were reduced.
