Michigander in Mass

Pulled liberally from two recent news stories in the Globe and the Somerville News:

Somerville's political squabbles over redevelopment of Assembly Square Mall and the rest of a 140-acre site -- bounded by Interstate 93, the Mystic River, and a rail corridor -- have been going on for years. Things may be coming to a head, however.

Earlier this year, Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville, Md., bought the mall, as well as rights to develop adjacent underused land, for about $64 million.

Taurus New England Investments Corp. of Boston and Gravestar Inc. of Cambridge had spent six years working with city officials to get the site rezoned and permitted for retail, office, and residential use.

Now, Federal Realty is refurbishing the mall, bringing in tenants like Christmas Tree Shops. But longtime critics of proposals for retail use of the rest of the area -- especially by big-box stores like Ikea, which controls a block adjacent to the mall -- say more shoppers would just bring more cars and congestion to already stuffed roads like Route 28.

In 2004, the City of Somerville signed an agreement with the land's owners requiring them to build a mixed-used neighborhood near the mall. But Bill Shelton, former president of the activist Mystic Valley Task Force, and others fear what is built on a former MBTA site nearest the new station will be too heavily weighted with retail use.

The task force supports transit-related urban development and has filed suits against plans for suburban-style retail uses. Shelton and others want residences and a large dose of office space at Assembly Square, even though today's commercial leasing market is ailing and showing no signs of quick recovery. Without that, they say, there won't be enough foot traffic to support a T stop.

The most effective way to ensure the project’s completion is still a topic of public debate. Hotly contested in the last mayoral race, it remains on the burner for those who are seeking elected office in the city today.

Without major improvements in infrastructure – including a new T stop - there remain a host of uncertainties, said Alderman William A. White.

One major improvement may just happen: the long-discussed Orange Line MBTA stop that has been in most plans for the devlopment.

Twenty-five million dollars set aside for the station at Assembly Square was tucked into the latest transportation funding bill in Washington, and it just could resolve one of Massachusetts' longest-running development battles.

"We're very excited," said Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. "A T stop is the most critical piece to unlocking the full potential of that site." But not everybody is convinced this is the golden hammer pro-development Somervillians are looking for.

US Representative Michael E. Capuano, the Democratic congressman who along with the Commonwealth's US senators was responsible for getting Congress to earmark the funds for a T station, was cautious yesterday.

"This does not guarantee funding," said Capuano, a former Somerville mayor. "If the players muddle along as they've done for years now, this money will be lost." Congress would have to take further action before the authorized money could actually be spent.

Curtatone said the total cost for the station would be $40 million to $50 million.

Capuano said developers, city officials, and groups such as the task force must cooperate to come up with a plan acceptable to all.

A Federal Realty spokesman could not be reached yesterday. But a spokeswoman for former co-owner Gravestar, Natasha Perez, called the money for a new station good news. "This is an exciting opportunity for Somerville and is really going to make Assembly Square pop," she said.

The MBTA has not had a new Orange Line station high on its list of capital projects. "Only recently did the MBTA become aware of this earmark," said Joe Pesaturo, the T's spokesman.

Stephen V. Mackey, president of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said putting a station at Assembly Square, about a half mile from stations to the north and south, would make spacing of stations on the line consistent with other urban transit stretches. "It opens up the opportunity for nearly a billion dollars of urban, transit-oriented development," he said.

Curtatone said Federal Realty has said it plans to create a new neighborhood, with small block sizes, housing and office uses, boutique-style and other retail shops, cafes, and restaurants.

"They build urban villages," Curtatone said. "That's why they bought the site, that's why they paid so much for it, and they made clear the importance of having an Orange Line stop there."

The Assembly Square Development Study, the plan by the Cecil Group under then-mayor Dorothy A. Kelly Gay, has become the gold standard upon which future development there can be measured.

It outlines a large, mixed-use development with high-density office space, retail and a residential component. It presents a development that at some point in the future will net the city around $40 million in tax revenue. At its core are both the Orange Line station as well as a new I-93 off-ramp.

While Curtatone said he is working closely with the Governor’s Planning Office to ensure the needed construction, a variety of circumstances could bring the entire deal back to square one.

According to the developer’s covenant, the developers are not contractually obligated to build anything specifically. Legal clauses in the covenant allow the negation of the deal outright for reasons of third party litigation.

Alderman Denise Provost has said that in her last meeting with representatives from Federal Realty Investment Trust, the developing powerhouse that bought out the Assembly Square Limited Partnership, FRIT said they were, "re-evaluating the Goody Clancy proposal."

The Goody Clancy proposal was the architectural plan resultant of the Assembly Square Planning Study. It is the project currently in motion, said Mark Horan, the Mayor’s Communications Director.

"The Mayor has always said that the city would be willing to work with the developers on improving the Goody Clancy proposal," said Horan.

Curtatone said that while there are instances where the deal could go flat, the developers are committed to seeing a serious mixed-use development effort go forward and are willing and able to mount the lobbying campaign necessary to win critical funding for the centerpiece improvements in infrastructure.

While FRIT owns the mall building outright, as well as adjacent parcels and the rights to other sites – including yard 21 – without the funding for infrastructure they could legally opt to re-tenant the mall and forfeit their other land holdings to the city for one dollar.

It is the one-dollar deal that Curtatone said is the lynchpin holding FRIT to the site, as they have already paid non-refundable permitting fees, as well as other contractual monetary obligations to the city.

White said that the Board of Aldermen was informed by the city's traffic consultants during the zoning hearings that if the proposed IKEA store goes ahead along with the new power strip at the mall site that is under-way 'at-risk' pending litigation, without those improvements the site will be at full traffic capacity.

"That is why the construction of a new T stop is so important," said White.

White said that the opponents of the zoning say that without the new I-93 off-ramp and Orange Line stop FRIT could decide that the rest of the development just isn’t economically feasible.

White also said that he is encouraged by the purchase of the property by FRIT, as they appear to be in a firmer financial position to follow through with a serious re-development effort.

There is a current lawsuit, spearheaded by the Mystic View Task Force, which takes aim at what some call suspect zoning deals and point to private favoritism.

Curtatone is firm that the zoning does not violate the uniformity principle of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40 A and claims that the zoning is critical in unlocking future potential.

"No zoning, no T station, no deal," Curtatone said.

The suit is pending a decision.

MBTA and I-93 feasibility studies are initiated, but as of now have not begun.

The Mayor, quoted in his mayoral campaign as saying, "Over my dead body will there be a strip mall at Assembly Square," presides over the development of 'large-footprint' retail development at the old mall site, and still faces many technical hurdles to ensure that the project remains on-pace and on-target.

Curtatone said that while the new power strip is the first phase of development, it would not be the last. The speedy opening of the strip is critical in increasing the number of car trips to the site, making the prospect of state funding for I-93 improvements and a new Orange Line stop more likely, the Mayor said.

Curtatone said the time-line obligations in the developer's covenant will be met and that the individual phases will – while presently only ideas – someday soon become reality.

Certainly, nothing will be finished overnight.

Gina Folia, the current Mystic View Task Force president, said such ideas take time to come to fruition, but that firm groundwork must be laid.

"A land transformation project takes more than 10 years, but within 10 years you can properly set up a land use structure," Folia said.

With the IKEA and the Main Street initiative yet to be realized, the zoning mired in litigation, and the hopes for a new MBTA station and I-93 off-ramp still uncertain, the grasslands at Assembly Square remain un-walked.

What is certain is that if the Mayor is unable to make major headway in terms of firmer commitments from public and private parties soon, there will be someone in the field waving a giant red flag.

There's some commentary going on at the Somerville News site.