Copper Mill Development hosted an open meeting at Somerville Community Baptist Church on Feb. 12 to discuss plans to develop their Elm and Grove Street property to include retail and residential apartments. This was the fifth event Copper Mill has hosted seeking community feedback.
The public meeting drew crowds of both Somerville residents and visitors, which led to the event space reaching full capacity. The meeting began with Andrew Flynn, founder and CEO of Copper Mill, discussing the project and seeking community feedback.
“We’ve heard that it’s imperative to preserve the retail character and enhance the public realm,” Flynn said. “We understand there are differing perspectives, but the building that is shown here tonight reflects direct input that was shared in December and November with our design teams.”
Flynn explained that the prospective building would incorporate retail, mentioning that new companies, such as Poets and Pulp, a juice bar and a bookstore, would come to Davis Square. However, he was quick to note that Copper Mill has declined certain interested parties in order to protect local Somerville businesses.
Though Copper Mill is trying to bring new establishments to Davis Square, Flynn emphasized that the owners of The Burren and Dragon Pizza have been in discussions with Copper Mill about having spaces in the new building that match their current rents. However, McKinnon’s Meat Market, Kung Fu Tea and Martsa On Elm have all declined spaces in the new building, meaning that all three establishments would have to close their current locations as soon as construction begins.
The Burren and Dragon Pizza would also close during the construction before they could return to the new building. Flynn stated that The Burren would be closed for 18 to 20 months during construction, which was met by complaints from the crowd.
“In response to community feedback we’ve received in this room and in order to protect some local businesses, Tatte was somebody who was very actively pursuing space on this site, and given our respect for Diesel Café, we have broken off discussions with Tatte,” Flynn said.
Attendees asked questions following Flynn’s presentation. In response to Flynn’s comments about preserving local businesses, Councilor-at-Large Willie Burnley Jr. expressed concerns about the impact Poets and Pulp would have on Narrative — a bookstore recently added to Davis Square — and asked about potential discussions to put in an existing bookstore instead.
A Somerville resident comments on the development plan during the Feb. 12 meeting.
“We would definitely be very open to those discussions,” Flynn replied. “We don’t want to cannibalize an existing bookstore.”
“How do you expect the working musicians, who rely on the income from The Burren every single week, to pay our rent,” local musician Helen Kuhar questioned.
“To close The Burren would be to cut out the heart of this music scene, even if it were for 24 months,” Kate, another Irish musician, echoed.
The conversation then turned from the prospective retail to the tower of apartments. Community members in attendance expressed worries about how the new 25-floor building would fit into Davis Square.
“Have you taken a look at what Union Square looks like lately? Your project is a duplicate of what they got away with there,” Somerville resident Don Meglio said. “It is an ugly, massive building that is incongruous with everything around it.”
“This building is not going to fit here,” Meglio concluded.
Flynn responded by stating that some residents may feel differently than Meglio.
“We had somebody who was at our last meeting who said that they were against the Union Square project the whole time it was in planning,” Flynn said. “And now that it’s there, they love it. And that’s only one data point, but I think it’s important to recognize there are different perspectives.”
Community members also brought up the apartments themselves and Copper Mill’s plans to fit 500 apartments in the building. When discussing the choice to have 500 units, Flynn described the current housing crisis and inclusion of 100 affordable units.
“We think that everybody deserves to experience the heart of Davis Square,” Flynn said. “Ultimately, the city caps the rents that can be charged for those units.”
Michèle Hansen, a member of the Union Square Neighborhood Council, emphasized that Copper Mill’s affordable housing is only meeting the minimum rent cap mandated by Somerville.
“If they’re not affordable, it’s not worth it. And in terms of the 20%, it’s mandated by the city. So if you would do more than 20% affordable, that’s even better,” Hansen said.
Flynn said he was willing to explore more than 20% affordable units. Later in the meeting, Meglio argued in favor of 100 units of affordable housing to provide for those who need it.
“Respectfully, it’s just not realistic to build 100 units of affordable housing,” Flynn replied. “The only way you can build 100 units of affordable housing is if they’re offset by something else. So that’s just a reality.”
