Final push underway for Union Square zoning changes ahead of Green Line Extension

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Union Square is the oldest commercial district in Somerville, and it’s about to undergo a major transformation.

City officials are working on zoning changes linked to the Green Line Extension Project that will forever change the way the area looks and feels.

“We're basically reshaping the neighborhoods around the to-be-built Green Line station,” Somerville Alderman Jack Connolly said. “Bigger buildings with bioresearch, with office, with workers, high-paying jobs that will live in the immediate area.”

But will those highly-paid workers and all that development mean even higher rents in union square?

“It's less about the size of the buildings, but it's really more about what's inside those buildings,” Benny Wheat from the community group Union United said.

Several group members were at the board of alderman meeting Wednesday night concerned about what the zoning changes could bring.

“If you're building luxury condos that's going to affect who is going to be able to live in this community,” Wheat said.

It could also affect who can do business in this community.

Jose Garcia owns the Ebi Sushi restaurant in Union Square. Already he's seen what you might call the 'Green Line Effect’ with his rent.

“Last year, the landlord raised the rent a thousand dollars. Automatic. So now we're paying seven-thousand,” he said.

City officials are under pressure to get the zoning changes done by next week, and it is proving to be a challenge.

“Very tricky because you don't want to displace people,” Connolly said. “We have to give the developer enough room for him to build the size and dimension of buildings that will be attractive to a potential investor.”

Somerville residents are also under pressure to get behind the zoning changes. Calls have been going out from a group called Union Square Associates. Boston 25 traced those calls back to a lobbying firm called Novus. The company that hired Novus to lobby on its behalf is the developer chosen by the city for the Union Square project.

Cox Media Group