A four-story redevelopment at 53 Chester St., next to Redbones Barbecue, will provide a trio of three-bedroom condominium units atop a commercial space in Davis Square. The building’s designs were approved Thursday by Somerville’s Planning Board.
Neighbors have been generally supportive of the project, saying that it would provide much-needed revitalization to an unoccupied house, though some neighbors and a board member objected to the three parking spots included in the plan.
City documents indicated that the developer, G2 Par Somerville, was interested in having an art gallery in the 779-square-foot ground-floor space. In a Feb. 6 board meeting and in an interview, the project’s attorney clarified that the building has no tenants in mind and is not looking specifically for an art gallery to fill the space.
“We don’t want to constrain this project or this commercial space to one any given thing,” project attorney Anne Vigorito said. “Once it’s built and put up for rental, we’d love to see the right business come in.”
The art gallery concept was brought up by neighbors at a neighborhood meeting, not by the developer, Vigorito said.
The site was previously home to Nave Gallery Annex, an art gallery that closed in 2018, which possibly contributed to the confusion.
Unplanned commercial space
Board member Lynn Richards expressed concerns around adding yet another commercial space to a square already experiencing shuttered storefronts. Peter Quinn, the project architect, responded that the vacant storefronts in Davis Square are primarily a result of stalled lab projects.
Around three years ago, several Davis Square businesses moved or closed in preparation for the construction of two office- and lab-building redevelopments, which have since stalled due to a regional economic downturn for lab buildings. One of the projects is moving forward as a residential development instead, and some existing stores, such as McKinnon’s Meat Market, have already opted to not return after construction.
Whether or not the square needs more storefronts, zoning effectively requires the building to have a storefront or space that encourages “active use.” The attorney and the neighborhood meeting notes made reference to a possible yoga or wellness space; the building will probably not house a cafe or restaurant, residents can sometimes be “not pleased with the smells and the odors,” Vigorito said.
Neighbor support
Neighbors expressed support for the plan at the Feb. 6 meeting. The current building was described as “unfortunate” by Brendan Ritter and “overrun by rats” by Laura Mariano, who both live nearby. Multiple neighbors were hopeful that the redevelopment will help fix the lot’s rodent issues.
Rob Gregory, the owner of Redbones Barbecue who also lives on Chester Street, said, “It’d be nice to have the building in good repair.”
“He has also been very respectful of Redbones and ensuring that business will be able to continue while he’s under construction,” Gregory said of the developer.
Parking near transit
As is customary in dense Somerville, some criticized the developer’s choice to provide three parking spots when the Davis Square MBTA station is, according to Google Maps, 0.1 miles away – a three-minute walk.
“That much parking that close to the area, given the other stated goals for the city, raises some concerns for me,” Richards said.
Resident Aaron Weber encouraged the developer to add another unit of housing instead and said that “housing for people is more important than storage for cars.”
Somerville has been shifting away from car dependence in its transportation policy and stated goals. The city removed parking minimums near MBTA stops in 2019, meaning that developers no longer needed to provide a certain number of parking spots per unit. In December, the city removed all parking minimums citywide.
“Parking and personal vehicle use take up a lot of space and are not the best use of our land; we should reduce the space available for parking and personal vehicle use,” says the itywide plan Somervision 2040.
Chair Michael Capuano said the board should allow developers to build parking according to the market.
“The only reason I voted to recommend the no-parking-minimum amendment to the zoning was because all of you, including the city, convinced me begrudgingly, that we should let the market dictate what an applicant thinks is actually going to make their project salable,” Capuano said to fellow board members.
The project will move forward with the proposed three parking spots, which the developer wanted in part to encourage families to move in, Vigorito said.
It will also provide seven bicycle parking spaces and a new sidewalk, which Economic Development staff said would help pedestrians and cyclists.
Given neighbors’ support, board approval means that building construction will likely start soon – after a monthlong appeal period. Though the developer provided no specific timeline, Vigorito said that construction will probably take around 18 months.
A stronger
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“Housing should take priority over car storage”—well said. This development is near the T, making it a great spot for more housing. Parking and personal vehicles aren’t the best use of our land.
“The project will move forward with the proposed three parking spots, which the developer wanted in part to encourage families to move in, Vigorito said.”
We really need to stop equating cars with families. Especially in places like somerville, the real family vehicle is the cargo bike. Cars kill more kids than anything except guns.
Davis Square surely does not need MORE luxury condos. After all the happy-talk about “affordable housing”, all we see is more of the same-old same-old.
A nice new four-story building will be great. That building should contain at least 8 AFFODABLE apartments. Perhaps they might have Formica countertops instead of granite. Perhaps they might have bathrooms with a single sink and shower.
Somerville will not have affordable housing until new projects provide affordable housing.
This proposal utterly fails to do that.
Contrary to what some new Somerville residents believe, residents love their cars and aren’t giving them up any time soon. Assuring that spots are available is crucial in this over packed community.
“residents love their cars” I really recoil at these kind of framings. At least a full third of the city doesn’t own a car. Many who do have far more ambiguous relationships with their vehicle than that. Even many of those that claim to love their car constantly complain about parking and traffic (the auxiliary effects of car culture). Resident =/= car brained.
“Residents love their cars” really means “*I* love my car.” Many residents don’t own or regularly use cars, let alone love them.
Dedicated parking near public transit is wasteful. Davis Square needs less parking, not more. I look forward to Elm St becoming a pedestrian walkway.
How Parking Ruined Everything
America has paid a steep price for devoting too much space to storing cars.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/07/cars-parking-take-up-street-space-cities/674174/
I keep hoping for a better architect than the one here. Another project at 199 Elm next to Revival Cafe is far more contextual and better designed. This is the architect that gave us the bank building behind Rosebud diner, an eyesore.