Davis Square Hotel - update

[pbockelman.livejournal.com]

Somerville Patch has a good summary of the proposals for a hotel in Davis Square (where the farmer's market is now) here: http://somerville.patch.com/articles/davis-square-hotel-what-developers-have-proposed.

Also, you can go to the City's website to see much of the submitted material here: http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/ospcd/economic-development/davis-square-hotel-project

Other information can be found at an independent website created by a neighbor: http://herberthotel.net/

Comments

[ron_newman]

Is there a bad feeling about Maxwell's Green? Seems like it turned out pretty well.

To benefit the local business community, I'd also prefer that the hotel not contain its own restaurant, and instead directs its guests to the many nearby choices in the square.

At least one of the proposals is for a 6-story building, which is two floors higher than current zoning allows.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I might be misremembering -- didn't a development in that area come under fire for not using enough local/union workers?

[ron_newman]

You may be right -- I did not pay close attention to that issue.

A lot of folks from the UNITE HERE hotel workers' union attended last week's community meeting. They want the city to ensure that whatever hotel developer is selected will employ a unionized workforce.

The Saracen proposal is for a 6-story, 60-foot high building. The current Davis Square central business district zoning allows only a 4-story, 50-foot buildling. The other three proposals appear to conform to that height limit.

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

Gate Residential and KSS Realty were picketed by Unions when demolition and initial construction began. I believe, they did use Bent Electric which is both local and Union (Local 103, IBEW). I don't know if other Union labor was used.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

I was at at least one meeting that was supposed to be for the neighborhood to hear about changes to the development and to discuss our concerns, but was to some degree hijacked by the union people demanding to be awarded the work they felt they were entitled to, without having to compete in an open market bid situation.

[emannths.livejournal.com]

IMHO, of course...I know everyone interprets "local business" differently, but I'd think a restaurant is about as local-business as one can get. It uses local employes, pays local taxes and fees, serves the local community. Sure, the owners/investors may not be local, but a) that's no assurance of the restaurant's quality and b) the community at large gains little even if the profits stay in the hands of a few locals.

If the restaurant is good enough to syphon off customers from existing restaurants, then it's probably a net benefit to the community regardless of its owners. Let's leave the choice to the potential customers rather than a pseudo-omniscient board.

[ron_newman]

If the hotel was proposed for currently private property, I would agree with you. But this proposal is for sale of a city-owned parking lot to a developer. Given that, some 'pseudo-omniscience' from the review committee may be appropriate.