The third annual Curbed Boston Cup, our award for the Hub neighborhood of the year, has kicked off, with 16 enclaves vying for the prestigious fake trophy. We'll have two match-ups per day through Thursday, and all the results and the full tourney bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends after 24 hours. Let the eliminations continue!
Now in the ring, Somerville's Union Square area and Allston.
Somerville's Union Square area is poised to benefit immensely from SomerVision, which took sharper shape as 2013 dawned. Don't know about SomerVision? Wish you had SomerVision? Check out SomerVision: the city's 20-year master plan for more than 6,000 housing units as well as new parkland and attendant retail, all predicated on the long-hoped-for/finally-happening extension of the Green Line all the way to Medford. The extension's first leg, from Lechmere to Union Square (future station rendered above) should, in fact, open within the next 36 months (feels so much more optimistic to type "36 months" rather than "by 2017"). Get into Union Square while you can!
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Allston's biggest news dropped in the fall and then reappeared just this month: the expansion of Harvard into the neighborhood. In October, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the university's long-debated (to say the least) 1.4 million-square-foot plans. And, in December, ground was broken at Barry's Corner (or Allston Square, if you will) on the first big phase of the decade-long expansion. Harvard aside, there were other big 2013 doings in Allston: the almost-carless apartment complex (rendered), the flirtation with micro-apartment mania, the Aerosmith concert. Sweet emotions, indeed.
· SomerVision Sees 6,000 New Homes, Lots of Green Line Riders [Curbed Boston]
· The Green Line Extension Is Really Happening [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Says Yes to Harvard's Allston Expansion [Curbed Boston]
· Meet Allston Square! [Curbed Boston]
· Menino to Harvard: Hold It Right There [Curbed Boston]
· The Replacement for Boston's Former Car-Less Pioneer [Curbed Boston]
· Is Allston About to Get Hundreds of Micro-Apartments? [Curbed Boston]
· 40 Years Ago, Aerosmith Saw Allston's Gentrification Coming [Curbed Boston]