$65 million influx boosts prospects for development in Assembly Sq. area

    After years of planning and delay, the development of a new transit-oriented community along the Mystic River in Somerville is on the road to completion.
    Governor Deval Patrick this summer announced plans to provide funding for the project through a state-federal partnership. The plans call for more than $65 million in state-bond and federal-stimulus funding to construct public infrastructure at Assembly Square which would resemble that of nearby Davis Square.
    Highlights of the proposal include plans for an Ikea furniture store that is expected to open by the end of 2011, a new Orange Line T station and a new waterfront park with bike and pedestrian paths.
    The project is the result of a lengthy effort by the City of Somerville to develop 66.5 acres of former industrial space along the waterfront of the Mystic River.
    The development of Assembly Square will create 1.15 million square feet of new stores, restaurants and a hotel, and 1.75 million square feet of office space. It is intended to produce around 20,000 permanent jobs. The development is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
    "Assembly Square is a critical piece of land for the City of Somerville that is being underutilized and underused," Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone told the Daily. "The project … will build great new housing and create an incredible new dynamic space along the waterfront that residents from Somerville can live in and enjoy."
    The key to the multi-phase program is the collaboration and partnership of various levels of government - federal, state and local - and several businesses in the private sector.
    "The only way Assembly Square could have happened is if all the stars aligned with our partners from the residents in the community, the city of Somerville, the help of our private sector partners and the help of the state and federal government who have the leverage to get this project off the ground because of the money they control," Curtatone said.
    The state has committed $50 million to public infrastructure through a bond-funded program devised to encourage investment from the private sector. The other $15 million comes from the highway transportation component of the federal government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
    Twenty-five million dollars are exclusively earmarked for the development of the new T stop, according to Curtatone.
    The project is being developed in partnership with Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust, a real estate trust specializing in large-scale projects.
    "The fact is, during tough economic times it is because of this true public-private partnership between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Somerville and Federal Realty that this project continues to make steady progress," Federal Realty spokesperson Janelle Stevenson told the Daily.
    The significance of Federal Realty's involvement is hardly limited to financial concerns, according to Curtatone. Federal Realty in 2006 played a key role in ending a nearly decade-long stalemate between Somerville landowners and Ikea over the location of the new Ikea store. The dispute threatened to end the redevelopment project, but Federal Realty arranged a deal that put it back on track.
    The Assembly Square project is based on an urban-planning theory known as smart growth, in which development is focused on a central transportation hub. The policy advocates for environmentally friendly development that encourages bike, pedestrian and mass transit.
    For those wondering what planners hope to accomplish with Assembly Square, the answer is waiting in Somerville's backyard. "Davis Square is a great example of what we're talking about," Curtatone said. "Most people that go there don't use a car. They travel on bike, they travel on foot, they use mass transit."
    While the Assembly Square project seeks to speed up economic recovery in Somerville through its creation of construction and temporary jobs, it seems that the best economic stimulus may come later. Assembly Square should bring in $15 million in additional tax revenue, almost 9 percent of Somerville's total budget, according to Curtatone.
    "We are talking about an economic development showcase - the only one of its magnitude on the East Coast that is currently under construction," Steve Azar, the city's senior program manager for Assembly Square, said. "Tax revenues from a project of this scale will help sustain Somerville services and assist in relieving the residential tax burden by offsetting them with new commercial tax revenues."