Two big apartment buildings are getting under way at one big residential and commercial complex in Somerville. Along the banks of the Mystic (cue wistful music), on the site of a former Ford plant, will rise 2,050 housing units; a 200-room hotel; 1.75 million square feet of office space; 830,000 square feet of retail, including the sort for big-box; and an Orange Line station. It is to be called Assembly Row, what Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone has labeled "the best brand-new neighborhood on the Eastern Seaboard."
The first two buildings, which started construction yesterday, will have 448 apartments over 470,000 square feet. One will have 195 rentals in what The Globe described as "a more traditional apartment complex" while the other will have 253 rentals of smaller size geared toward younger people (is Somerville following Boston's lead on small?). Tenants are supposed to be able to move in starting next summer.
· Construction Starts on Somerville’s Assembly Row [Globe]
· Somerville's 'Best Brand-New Neighborhood' In Eastern U.S. [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Is for Lovers (Just Not Their Kids): a New Apt. Dynamic [Curbed Boston]