The site, located only 2 miles from downtown Boston, is easily accessible from I-93 and Route 28. It sits on 66.5 acres of land, right near the bank of the Mystic River. When completed, the development is expected to draw in $15 million in tax revenue for the city of Somerville, not to mention the more than 19,000 permanent jobs it will create.
Originally the site of a shopping mall built in 1980, it eventually lost a great amount of business and fell into disrepair until it eventually closed down. Planning began in 2005 when Federal Realty bought the initial property for the project.
The state has invested heavily into the construction of the neighborhood, giving it a large amount of government funding. In July of 2009, governor Deval Patrick announced a state and federal partnership with the Somerville Assembly Square Project, promising $65 million in state bond and federal stimulus money—$50 million coming from the Massachusetts Infrastructure Investment Incentive program (I-Cubed), and $15 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
In addition, Assembly Square has already drawn in big-name companies to open shop. The already finished Assembly Marketplace contains an AC Moore, a Bed Bath & Beyond, a Christmas Tree Shoppe, a Kmart, a Sports Authority, a Staples, and a TJMaxx.
Federal Realty recently announced that the MBTA has submitted a notice to bidders for the construction of the station. Once a bidder is chosen, construction is set to begin this Fall, and the station could potentially be open by 2014.
Be sure to check out the images the MBTA provides of the new station here and here.
For more information on Assembly Row, visit their website.
It looks like Ikea was replaced with a parking lot in that map... I certainly hope that's not so... Already going to be too much parking here!
ReplyDeleteI see that! I will try and find another map! Thank you for pointing it out :)
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