The redevelopment of a long-closed Star Market in Somerville’s Winter Hill neighborhood is progressing toward a planned construction start in the spring.
The project at 299 Broadway St. entails two new mixed-use buildings of 316 apartments, 40 percent of which will be affordable, as well as retail space and a public plaza and park.
Developers abandoned plans for underground parking due to asbestos buried deep in the existing lot, which city councillor Jake Wilson said came from curtains from an old movie theater on that site.
As a result, apart from building short-term parking spots for the liquor store next door, 299 Broadway will not include on-site parking and instead will offer parking permits to half of the market-rate units at a rate above the typical $40-per-year residential parking permit.
Smaller changes to the permit – including for window locations and sizing to meet “Passive House” building certification for lower energy use – were approved Nov. 6 by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Developer Beacon Communities met Nov. 14 with the Winter Hill Civic Advisory Committee, a group of people who work or live near the development, to discuss remaining concerns.
Parking was the main focus at the Civic Advisory Committee. It was also the main sticking point in the original permitting process, Wilson said.
“I’m going to be blunt. I live in the neighborhood too – we’re going to feel it on the street. It’s the one real downside to the project,” Wilson said. “I felt as a city councilor that the huge benefits on the other side outweigh the parking crunch, but yes, it will be a negative impact of the project.”
Arthur Gonclaves, a committee member, pointed out that the 2022 parking study doesn’t account for possible future street redesigns, a comment left mostly unaddressed.
Hala Jadallah, whose mother lives near 299 Broadway, said the parking study wasn’t done properly. “They did the parking study in the middle of the day. There’s no place to park at night,” Jadallah said.
In response to parking questions and concerns from the committee, councilor Jesse Clingan emphasized that those plans had been set in previous zoning board meetings.
“The parking discussion is over,” Clingan said. “We had to consider trade-offs. We’re hoping that with the proximity to the green line and other modes of transportation that it’s not as dramatic as people might think. Sometimes these things have a way of working out.”
“This is certainly going to be felt in a city like Somerville where we are dense and there are a lot of vehicles, but as we get denser, the expectation of parking can’t be a guarantee with your apartment,” he added.
The Star Market has been empty since 2007.
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