The Somerville YMCA is moving into the early stages of a much-needed redevelopment. On Monday, members of a project team along with Ward 3 councilor Ben Ewen-Campen held a neighborhood meeting to present plans for a new building with fitness, community and child care facilities, along with an adjacent 100 percent affordable residential building.
Originally built in 1904, the Somerville Y at 101 Highland Ave., in Winter Hill near Gilman Square, consists of three buildings and two parking lots. In 1963, a commissioned structural engineer deemed the building “nonfunctional as a Y for the Somerville community,” said Adam Dash, the Y’s attorney for the project.
“Since that time, we’ve really just done a number of patch jobs to try to keep this building afloat,” said Vladimir Benoit, chief executive of the Somerville Y. “It’s been a long time coming to get to this point.”
The new seven-story residential building will add 20 units to the existing 40 affordable units that the Y operates. The building benefits from being in Somerville’s Affordable Housing Overlay, which allows for an extra story if all units are affordable. According to the proposed plans, the building will include 54 studio or micro-apartments, as well as a half-dozen one-bedroom apartments. Finally, the residential building will have a “healthy food store.”
Although the main public building plans and programs are in a preliminary design stage, the architect team says it is looking at a full six-lane, 25-meter pool, multiple courts and a track. The team is also looking at “hopefully increasing the child care program,” said Dave Kadish, one of the architects.
“The magic of the building is on the inside,” Kadish said. “It’s all the bits and pieces in the program that come together to all the components that you and your families all love and use every day.”
Possible community spaces include a maker space, a test kitchen and computer labs. The plans also include a teen space, which, in the context of this year’s teen turmoil in the nearby library branch, could be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
“We have traveled around the Northeast looking at other successful Ys in the area and what works, what doesn’t work and how we can take those and improve upon them and make that the best for the community here,” Kadish said.
The redevelopment will replace two aboveground parking lots with underground parking for Y employees, along with a short-term drop-off area. Parking was one of the neighbors’ concerns on Monday.
“It feels like there’ll be more apartment spaces, but not necessarily more parking spaces to go with that,” said Julie Calado, who lives next to the Y. “We already have such a hard time with parking.”
The area previously experienced issues with limited parking due to the renovation of Somerville High School in 2022, which occurred before the MBTA green line extension T stops opened – including the Gilman Square stop that is accessible off School Street from the Y.
In response to renewed parking concerns, Dash said, “Somerville has certainly been trying to discourage parking. The feeling is, with the green line station and the bus lines right there, that this is sufficient.”
Other neighbor concerns included rodent control and blocked sunlight from the taller building.
“I really am looking forward to a brand-new Y. I do see the need for it,” Calado said. “I guess I’m fearing what all the negative stuff is going to be. I hear that you guys are concerned and want to make the best of it, but we’re going to get the brunt of it.”
Next steps in the permitting process include a design review, another neighborhood meeting and public hearings. Construction will almost certainly not start this year, Kadish said. Next year “might be in the realm of possibilities, but there’s a lot that has to go into that decision.”
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