Image courtesy of Studio Troika
A local developer is proposing to demolish a former bakery building halfway between Union and Porter squares and replace it with labs.
Boston-based Rafi Properties wants to build a 3-story lab building at 599 Somerville Ave. The developer has filed plans for a 45,000-square-foot building with the city of Somerville, which are slated for a review by the city Planning Board on Jan. 6.
“The project intends to create a neighborhood mainstreet building that is lab and R&D-ready, providing a moderate floor plate size for the growing ecosystem of Tough Tech companies starting up in Somerville,” Rafi Properties Principal Russell Preston wrote in the company’s application.
The site is a short distance away from the Greentown Labs incubator and a short walk or bike ride from Somerville’s Union Square, where 2.4 million square feet of labs, offices and housing is planned or under construction.
The 3-story building is sized for 15,000-square-foot floor plates on the second and third floors, and 9,400 square feet of R&D space on the ground floor in addition to a 500-square-foot retail space.
While the property is located in one of the city’s new mid-rise zoning districts where lab projects are allowed by right, the project is subject to site plan review by the Planning Board. In addition, Rafi hopes to get permission for fewer parking spots – 33 are included in plans filed with the city – than the 44 required for a building of this size. The presence of several frequent bus lines connecting the site to the MBTA’s Porter Square and soon-to-open Union Square stations, plus 16 bicycle parking spots, will reduce car travel demands, Preston wrote.
The development proposal makes several concessions to neighborhood concerns, including a 16-foot cap on the mechanical penthouse and a 6-foot landscaped planting buffer to address privacy concerns from neighbors to the north. The development team is also proposing several streetscape enhancements to secure support for their project.
Rafi Properties has previously redeveloped smaller multifamily assets in the Cambridge area and owns part of Somerville’s Ames Business Park on Tyler Street, but may be best known for its failed 2016 proposal for a residential pencil tower in Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood.
