Capuano on Assembly Square: ‘Finally!’

Capuano on Assembly Square: ‘Finally!’
By George P. Hassett

An agreement between the Mystic View Task Force and developers could end a decade-old dispute and allow construction of an Ikea furniture store and a grand mixed-use project consisting of office space, a hotel and more than 3,000,000 square feet of residential space in Assembly Square.
  “There’s only one word to describe today’s news,” said Congressman Michael E. Capuano, D-Somerville. “Finally!”

  The accord will put an end to all lawsuits by the Mystic View Task Force against the city, developer Federal Realty and Swedish home furnishing retailer Ikea. Federal and Ikea agreed to invest $15 million to help build an Orange Line MBTA station between Sullivan Square and Wellington to alleviate Mystic View’s traffic concerns.
  Mystic View, a grassroots group of local activists, advocated for a transit based development for years and opposed previous projects they felt would not address the city’s needs. One plan, approved by the city’s Planning Board but later overturned in court, called for nothing but a “super” Home Depot and a small office building.
   Federal Realty President Don Briggs said the $15 million contribution from Federal and Ikea matches a $25 million earmark from the federal government secured by Capuano.
   “This clears the way for Congressman’s Capuano earmarked money to become appropriated and released,” he said.
   Federal Realty will contribute $150,000 to the city for water-access improvements, provide bike and pedestrian connections from the site to Ten Hills, East Somerville, and Draw 7 Park, and pay for a  $50,000 for a study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health on the health impacts of traffic in the area.
   Briggs said Federal Realty could break ground in 2009 and the project would be built in phases over eight to 10 years.
    Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said he was ecstatic intense development at Assembly Square could finally move forward.
   “I’m thrilled,” he said. “this was a huge milestone and accomplishment for Somerville.”
    Curtatone said negotiations picked up when the city added Douglas Foy, the state’s former head of development, as a volunteer advisor for local projects like Assembly Square. Curtatone and his administration though played no role in the negotiations, said Foy’s collaborator Anne Tate.
   “It was a different kind of leadership,” she said. “His leadership was to trust the process. He wasn’t involved in the negotiations.”
    Tate said Federal Realty and Mystic View were able to work together despite years of acrimony between nearly every party involved at Assembly Square because Federal Realty was a new developer without a history of strife in the city.
   “Federal didn’t carry any history with them into the negotiations so the process could be clean. And Mystic View saw Joe’s invitation to Doug Foy as a symbol of opportunity.
   Tate said the market for office space is opening and could be on the upswing in the next 10 years and Mystic View and Federal Realty want to catch the anticipated surge. Foy said Assembly Square is “the most exciting transit-oriented development certainly in New England, possibly in the entire country.” 
   Mystic View member Wig Zamore helped mold today’s vision of Assembly Square, fending off past proposals such as the one that would leave the 145 acre site with nothing but an oversized Home Depot. Tuesday he said he did not know what he was going to do now that an agreement has been reached.
   “I’m thinking about learning how to play pool,” he said.   
 

Comments

[Ron Newman]

Looks like the two earlier versions of this story, and all of the comments on those, are gone.

[brickbottom]

Like dust in the wind!

[Carrot Top]

Just because this group is finished suing these crooks doesn't mean I can't sue them or some other neighborhood "grassroots" organization can't take a turn. We are still giving the store away here
! Lets get some green energy out of the deal too! I say we tag up another group to work these clowns over before they can move in and start making record profits on our hard-earned waterfront!
Who gets the rights to set up a Damn water taxi to go the gallerie mall or can we have a few duck boats steam up river to pick us up?

[Ron Newman]

A water taxi to the Galleria is an interesting idea. But I don't think it would be very fast, especially as it would have to pass through the Charles River Dam lock near North Station.

At some point you have to say "this is good enough" and move forward. I would not like to see this stalled again by lawsuits.

[To all the freeloaders without cars!]

If you ever use the orange line to haul your ikea furniture home, then you should defenitely stop by that Tavern and buy Bill a drink for each of those Assembly Square history stories he wrote!

[Born Here]

15 million for a T stop ?? How many Somerville people are gonna use that ....ZERO. All that "linkage" money could have done alot for the people of Somerville. Let the MBTA pay for their own station. How about a new public safety building ?

[Ron Newman]

As the area is built out, it will include residences. So in time, quite a few Somerville people will use a T stop there.

[Dominic Santos]

The resolution of the Assembly Square dispute is a big win for the Curtatone Administration and the notion of public participation by residents. I hope the take-away from this experience to both government officials, residents, and potential applicants before governmental bodies, is that up-front meaningful public participation, and implementation of public comment, will only save a potential applicant money and resources in the long run.

It is not to say that public participation should cause an applicant to hand over the drawing board pen to residents, but implementing reasonable public comment will make the public feel part of the project that will ultimately be part of their community.

[Tex]

Newman wrote:
> If you ever use the orange line
> to haul your ikea furniture home,
> then you should defenitely...

This is a very topical view of it. Clearly, people won't be using the T to haul home tables and desks and whatever else, esp w those damn new gates.

However, I believe Ikea does offer home delivery of at least certain types of merchandise. So shopping there via the T is not entirely out of the question.

- tex

[Texmex the Allen wrench]

Newman did not write that, I did. And they do a great job of boxing and packaging the furniture unbuilt so that it is easy to transport and all you need is their little allen wrench to put it together. It is amazing how easy they make their stuff to put together compared to stuff you buy at other places like target.

[Charlie on the MTA]

does IKEA make an easy to assemble Public Safety building ? Maybe the SPD can take the Orange Line to Assembly Square if they are needed.

[Planet Somerville]

Take a good look at the picture of the Mayor. He is either:

a)not very happy that Cappy's stealing his thuder,

b)counting the number of Progressive votes this coup could get him next year,

c)very, very constipated,

d) trying to get Deval on the phone for the tenth time today
or
e)putting out a contract on Alderman White (who's downstairs enrolling as a Democrat at Elections with the Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman.)

The only one I really can't be sure of is c.

[Joey just wrote his ticket!]

Joey just wrote his ticket to be Mayor of Somerville for as long as he wants. Regardless how you look at it, its true.

[Planet Somerville]

Oh he wrote his ticket alright. Wait till MVTF and Foy find out Joey was meeting with Federal behind their backs and plans to screw both of them when all is said and done.

All for thirty pieces of silver.

A ticket to a nice Federal pen maybe!

[Whores!!!!!!!!]

They are all whores. Each and every one of them. Isn't that right Ron Newman and Domingo Santos?

[Ron Newman]

no

[Here we go again]

It looks like what Dot Gay proposed. Mabe just alittle changed hands?

[Thank you Messers. Mayors!]

Thank you to Mayors Capuano and Curtatone. This event will help to define Joe Curtatone as a do-er who gets the job finished. It will also hopefully stop the endless whining and gushing from Alderman Gewirtz and Provost and others from that bunch of whack jobs and moonbats at MVTF. Joe brought home the bacon working well with the developers for Somerville's best interests on this one, and is to be congratulated.

Bill White would not stand a chance against him next year, no matter what party he joins.

Joe's doing a fabulous job and I congratulate him for his preservance.

[whack jobs and moonbats]

We are here to fight the war on terror. The terror of gentrification and the terror of losing your city job. The terror of losing your first born in a foriegn war for oil and the terror of getting a pink slip today , as the ARM comes due on your mortage and the rate jumps from 1.5 % to 12 %. How about the terror that single moms face trying to raise kids and hold down two jobs without a green line to commute to work on? Or the terror she faces when she spends hours and hours on the phone with the pharmacy to get her health perscriptions? What about the terror of you hard earned tax dollars paying the sallaries of city workers who don't do any work and police who all believe they should be promoted to captain so that they too don't have to answer your calls. The Tax Terror is the biggest terror of all. These are the terrors we face every day. There are more people dieing of pollution cancer here than their are being killed by terrorists. How about the terror of 10 feet of water coming through your house and nobody to help you? Or the terror of not getting your government check and immigrants taking your job watching TV all day and collecting your check?

When are going to fight a real war on the real terrors that we face each day?

[Somerspeak]

On the surface, looks like everyone is happy.

MVTF was just about out of money to continue funding the lawsuits anyway.

The Curtatone administration was boxed in with the courts ruling against them. And Joey was casting a very weary eye towards the 2007 election, he needs the Progressives.

Federal and Ikea both knew that the City of Somerville and it's leaders were complete failures at the negotiations game.

So they all decided to bring in some unpaid voluteers(Tate and Foy)to work out the deal.

And who said volunteerism is dead in America?

The question now is: When Foy and Tate disappear over the horizon, what will Federal and Curtatone pull out of the bag of tricks that's been kept under lock and key, out of sight of Foy, Tate and MVTF?

Only time will tell.

[Curt and Tony]

So the mayor fails twice in the courts to get Assembly going.

Then admits he and his administration just can't figure it out so they ask for volunteers to negotiate for them.

And now he wants a raise for himself and the group at City Hall.

Who's the crazy in this picture - him or us?

[unionsquareboy]

Is it me or does Capuano look really old?

[no]

Soooo.....Ikea? Yes? No?

Slummy gettin' an Ikea or what?

[no]

Soooo.....Ikea? Yes? No?

Slummy gettin' an Ikea or what?

[Ron Newman]

The Globe article said Ikea would probably break ground in 2008. If they are swapping land with Federal Realty, they will need to redesign for a new site.