"Easter Bunny unreal huge loss to Somerville." Unfortunately, like the Easter Bunny, the 26-story tower was never going to happen. It was wildly out of sync with the City's zoning and updated SomerVision plans. The fantastical pictures and unrealistic promises distracted many in the community for too long. We need to move on as a community to continue to make meaningful progress on hyperlocal activation, public safety, planning, and economic development priorities.
An autopsy seems more needed than the eulogy here. What lead to this failure? How could it have succeeded?
The Chapter 40B permit was held up at the state level for 8 months, which Copper Mill cited as the reason for backing out. If that's true, who could have accelerated that? Who needed to be convinced? If that's not the whole story, what is?
I was also enthusiastic to see the tower happen, but started to get cold feet as we learned more about the developer. I am not certain the developer would have completed the project. Displacing all the businesses and leaving a pit there would have been the worst-case scenario.
"Easter Bunny unreal huge loss to Somerville." Unfortunately, like the Easter Bunny, the 26-story tower was never going to happen. It was wildly out of sync with the City's zoning and updated SomerVision plans. The fantastical pictures and unrealistic promises distracted many in the community for too long. We need to move on as a community to continue to make meaningful progress on hyperlocal activation, public safety, planning, and economic development priorities.
An autopsy seems more needed than the eulogy here. What lead to this failure? How could it have succeeded?
The Chapter 40B permit was held up at the state level for 8 months, which Copper Mill cited as the reason for backing out. If that's true, who could have accelerated that? Who needed to be convinced? If that's not the whole story, what is?
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/08/31/proposed-26-story-davis-square-apartment-tower-stalls-as-developers-walk-away/
Honestly? Good points!
I do have a records request out to the city to try to make progress on the autopsy view of things.
I was also enthusiastic to see the tower happen, but started to get cold feet as we learned more about the developer. I am not certain the developer would have completed the project. Displacing all the businesses and leaving a pit there would have been the worst-case scenario.