archBOSTON ARCHIVE

Matt · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 840

Go to boston.com...there's a video link about it all on the front page...land may be taken by eminent domain (I don't know how to post a video link)

quote of some activist: "it's reverse robin hood...taking from the poor to give to the rich"

Mike · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 402

http://www.boston.com/news/necn/

Ron Newman · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1007

This is probably about Central Steel and a couple of other small industries on the site.

pmf · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 20

March 1st Somerville News

Use of key Assembly Sq. parcel debated
Yard 21 development ?vital? to Square?s future

By George P. Hassett

An Assembly Square area once designated for dense, office based development is in danger of becoming home to a single big box store, said members of the Mystic View Task Force this week.
Yard 21 is an asymmetrical piece of land located along the Orange Line tracks that could one day connect Assembly Square?s waterfront to an MBTA station.
The 9 acre parcel is currently owned by the Somerville Redevelopment Authority and is in the midst of being sold to Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT). FRIT is reportedly in discussion with Swedish home furniture retailer Ikea to swap the area around Yard 21 with Ikea?s waterfront property.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said the proposed swap would allow dense, mixed use development to take place along the edge of the Mystic River.
Lawrence Paolella, former Ward 3 Alderman candidate and member of the Mystic View Task Force (MVTF), said plans for Ikea to take over Yard 21 would threaten any chance the city has to generate substantial tax revenue from a site once promised to be the center of a new urban village.
?At one point there were plans to build offices, pedestrian friendly shops and an arts center at Yard 21. Now we?re getting a huge retail store that will increase traffic and generate few jobs and tax benefits,? said Paolella.
David Dahlbacka, also of MVTF, said the arrival of Ikea in or around Yard 21 will create a branding problem for Assembly Square.
?A business center easily becomes known as a place for retail and big box stores. When you retroactively try to incorporate mixed use, high density development it is not successful,? said Dahlbacka.
Paolella said the city has no concrete assurances that FRIT will build the type of dense, mixed use development on their property that will benefit the city most. And Ikea, of course, will build a huge Ikea, increasing traffic and taking up ? of Yard 21.
?FRIT?s experience is in building retail and housing. Retail and housing generate no new tax money for the city. Ikea is coming to build a big box store that will do nothing to decrease automobile traffic,? said Paolella.
Curtatone said the city has a covenant with developers to ensure a certain type of development.
?If they don?t build they don?t make money. The value and financial return comes in long term, mixed use development,? he said.
Dahlbacka said the covenants the city has do not apply to Yard 21.
?The covenants have nothing to do with Yard 21, they only concern the strip mall and Ikea,? said Dahlbacka.
The misrepresentation of facts by Curtatone is a key roadblock to success at Assembly Square, said Paolella.
?There is a lack of transparency coming out of City Hall. We?re hearing nothing but sound bites about Assembly Square. We?re not hearing about how we are not reaping the full financial benefit we should have from that development,? said Paolella.
?There is no master plan here,? said Dahlbacka. ?A furniture store is not a good replacement for mixed use development. We need a master plan for Assembly Square. A master plan would include a properly thought out transportation plan. We don?t have that, we are at the mercy of developers.?

March 02, 2006 at 04:28 PM | Permalink

PerfectHandle · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 128

The city's growing folks

Vanshnookenraggen · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 364

I feel like I've missed something here. WHy not zone the area for high density (or at least medium)? Or did they try that and it didn't fly? What happened here?

PerfectHandle · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 128

That's some pretty high density there. I think we on this board tend to have a skewed vision of these things.

DarkFenX · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1111

Court rejects Assembly Square zoning change

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | March 14, 2006

A Massachusetts Land Court judge has invalidated a Somerville zoning amendment that allowed a Maryland company to develop a big-box mall at Assembly Square.

The decision, issued last week, found that three citizens who had challenged the amendment have standing to sue, and that Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville, Md., should not have been allowed to proceed with the Assembly Square project.

Several stores have opened at the mall since Federal Realty paid a previous owner $64 million for the mall and the right to develop nearby land. They include Christmas Tree Shops, HomeGoods, and Sports Authority.

Somerville city solicitor John G. Gannon said the city would appeal the decision.

The three residents of Somerville and the Mystic View Task Force have opposed the development plan, arguing for something that would affect traffic and the surrounding community less.

''A national company, stock-market-listed, has proceeded with a very large investment even though they were fully at risk," said Wig Zamore, a member of the task force. ''They had their eyes wide open about the appeal before they rebuilt Assembly Square Mall as a big box retail center."

Judge Alexander H. Sands III issued a 25-page decision in the case, argued a year ago, in which the plaintiffs challenged an amendment to the city's zoning code that was designed to eliminate the need for a special permit for the development, instead putting it on a fast track.

''The significance is that the Assembly Square Mall project needs a special permit and does not have one," said Douglas H. Wilkins, a partner at Anderson & Kreiger LLP, the Cambridge law firm representing the citizens.

Wilkins said yesterday he did not know how the plaintiffs, one of whom has moved out of Somerville since the suit was filed, would try to enforce the ruling.

The process Somerville used that gave approval to a developer for the Assembly Square location ''is a violation of the uniformity provision" of a section of state law Chapter 40A, according to the decision.

Defendants in the suit included the city, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and other city officials, and a business unit of Federal Realty, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. No one from the company could be reached for comment.

James R. Shea, a partner with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, which represented the city, reacted to the decision saying, ''We respectfully disagree with his interpretation but think it is something that's easily cured."

Gannon and Shea said the rest of the decision was in the city's favor. Asked if the decision would mean any of the stores would be closed, even temporarily, Shea said, ''No, we don't think so."

user_59 · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 24

That was a rendering of a proposed "urban village" not the Ikea based plan correct? It has some nice height.

dudeursistershot · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 715

This is the sort of decision that validates nonsense Republican rhetoric about "activist judges". Courts in this state have far too much power.

Matt · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 840

from the globe:

--

Land swap could pave way for Somerville Ikea

Plan would allow for a bigger store and more housing

By Kristen Green, Globe Correspondent | April 25, 2006

After months of talks, Swedish retailer Ikea and the developer of a mixed-use project at Somerville's Assembly Square have agreed on a conceptual plan that would pull the furniture store away from the Mystic River, opening that area for condos, apartments, and offices.

Officials from both companies said they agree in principal on a land swap that would put Ikea closer to Interstate 93.

''We think that we have a viable plan," said Don Briggs, senior vice president of development for Federal Realty Investment Trust. ''We feel comfortable enough with our negotiations to take the next step."

Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said an agreement is imminent.

But Ikea officials seemed more cautious.

''While we are optimistic about this concept, it's far from a done deal," said a spokesman, Joseph Roth.

Roth said Ikea would continue to pursue efforts to build along the river, a plan that has been challenged by lawsuits, while exploring the option presented by Federal Realty.

''We plan to build an Ikea Somerville at one of the two locations," Roth said.

The proposed swap calls for Ikea to give its 16 acres on the river to Federal Realty Investment Trust. Federal, in turn, would give the furniture company 11 acres behind Home Depot, closer to the highway.

Officials from both companies declined to release other details.
Under plans released by the city yesterday, Ikea would build a larger store than originally proposed, but on a smaller footprint. The building would still have underground parking.

Federal Realty said the trade would allow it to build 1,300 more condos and apartments than it had planned, for a total of 2,646. Federal also would build 15,000 square feet of office space. The plan also calls for a 200-room hotel and 230,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, including a supermarket.

The two companies will present their plans to the Board of Aldermen Thursday.

Curtatone said he is excited about the prospect of opening the riverfront for a mixed-use development near where an MBTA stop is planned. Money has already been committed for the transit facility.

''A good plan is about to become a great plan," he said. ''It's huge news for the city. It really is."

Ikea has been locked in an eight-year battle with Mystic View Task Force, a residents' group that has opposed big-box development on the site and advocated for a denser, more transit-friendly plan.

The company had hoped to open its Somerville store in 2004.
Joe Beckmann, a Mystic View founder, said the tentative agreement could result in a great waterfront. But, he said, that depends whether Federal Realty develops it with a vision that incorporates housing and commerce.

''I do think it's much better to put Ikea away from the water," he said, ''but I also think there are going to be tremendous traffic issues."

Last month, a state land judge found in favor of three citizens who, backed by the task force, had challenged the zoning amendment that allowed development to proceed at Assembly Square.

TC · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 62

Why wouldn't IKEA want to be closer to the highway?

They are going to get a lot more customers by car than by boat. Laughing

PaulC · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 172

statler · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 825

ckb · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 126

The latest from the Globe (there's a picture in the print version).

justin · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 418

From www.somervillestep.org:

Potential Assembly Square T stop moving?

A potential land swap at Assembly Square between Ikea and Federal Realty has many repercussions, including a shift of where a future Orange Line stop might be located. There could also be a new supermarket next to the T stop, as the map shows.

justin

chumbolly · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 120

Sweet--look at all that surface parking!

Ron Newman · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 1007

I think the gray-looking 'parking lots' are actually garage buildings.