Community mitigation measures are proceeding for Somerville’s Union Square redevelopment even as state officials mull the fate of the MBTA’s Green Line Extension project.
The city of Somerville and its hand-picked private development team are pushing ahead with plans for a $1 billion redevelopment of Union Square despite concerns about the future of the Green Line extension, considered the lynchpin of the entire development push.
Neighborhood groups are now putting the finishing touches on what they want from a future “community benefits agreement,” a list of priorities that city officials, residents and activists want to see emerge from the redevelopment of 15 acres of land in and around Union Square.
After establishing their own priorities, those pushing various community benefits – such as affordable housing, open spaces, jobs and job training programs –
would then have to negotiate final details with the master developer selected by the city, US2 (which stands for Union Square Station Assoc.), a partnership of Chicago’s Magellan Development Group and Mesirow Financial.
If all goes well and final zoning changes are approved by this spring or early summer, US2 could start construction on the first of seven parcels slated for mixed-use redevelopment.
The goal over the next seven to 10 years: Development of up to 2.3 million square feet of new office, R&D, retail and residential spaces in Union Square. Final parameters of the plan must be worked out in coming months, but city officials have been eyeing an approximate mix of 60 percent commercial and 40 percent residential space in the final blueprint.
Green Line Grinds To A Halt
A potential roadblock emerged late last year with news that the MBTA’s long-planned extension of the Green Line from Cambridge’s Lechmere neighborhood to Medford is running $1 billion over budget, prompting the Baker administration to halt construction.
Though the administration has signaled it ideally hopes to pare back costs and restart the project, state officials have also bluntly warned they’re prepared to kill it if cost solutions aren’t found.
“It’s almost a form of torture,” said Ester Hanig, executive director of Union Square Main Streets, a business association involved in the current redevelopment talks about Union Square. “It’s hard for us to contemplate (state officials) scrapping the Green Line extension altogether. Everybody is very concerned. But there is a hope and feeling it will happen in the end.”
For years, the entire Union Square redevelopment vision has been predicated on the building of a new Green Line station and its transformative effect upon the square, as part of the transit-oriented thrust of the multi-parcel project. The goal has always been to use public transit to attract new employers, retailers, residents and others to the square, linking Union Square to nearby “innovation” clusters in the area, such as Cambridge’s booming Kendall Square neighborhood.
One city official, who asked not to be named, noted that many future office and R&D employers will balk at expanding or relocating to Union Square if the Green Line extension doesn’t proceed.
A similar redevelopment project in Somerville – the $1.5 billion Assembly Square development along the Mystic River on land once used by auto manufacturers – didn’t really take off until prospective tenants saw actual construction of a new Orange Line station abutting the Assembly Square parcels, the official said.
In addition, US2 – whose partners, Magellan and Mesirow, have engaged in other public-private sector redevelopment projects elsewhere, notably in the Chicago area – is currently in preliminary talks with Union Square property owners about buying their land within the seven parcels designated for redevelopment. The hope is to avoid possible eminent domain showdowns.
But those talks with landowners – whose properties now host an array of tenants, including Goodyear, Citizens Bank, Dunkin’ Donuts, a sushi restaurant, a gas station and a number of auto-related shops, among other businesses – could slow if progress isn’t seen on building a new Green Line station, officials say. The city has already taken control of and cleared a 4-acre site for the future T station, but construction of the actual facility hasn’t started yet.
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and US2 President Greg Karczewski appear supremely confident the Green Line extension will one day resume.
“The Green Line extension will be completed, and Somerville will do its part for the regional economy by being ready with our Union Square redevelopment plan,” Curtatone said in a statement. “Union Square will bring the first of those new jobs, tax revenues, and needed housing, and we will not delay. We are proceeding with our plans with full confidence that the Green Line is a go.”
Karczewski said the redevelopment project is “all systems go” from US2’s perspective. He waved off questions about what his development group will do if the Green Line project is killed.
“We’re continuing to invest in the planning process,” he said in an interview. “We’re very optimistic.”
