"World of Beer" proposed for Social Security Building - public meeting Wednesday 4/17

[ron_newman]

I got this e-mail from Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz:

I wanted to update you that I have now had two meetings with the proponents of a place called "World of Beer" that wants to go into the Social Security Bldg space [240 Elm Street]. The lawyer for the new owner of the space, Mike Amato, is Rich DiGirolomo. I have told them that I am VERY concerned about this as a possible use since I don't want to see a drinking hole in Davis that allows you to bring in your own food and barely serves any food of their own. They have told me I have the wrong idea and it will be craft brews geared towards an "upscale" crowd. I am highly skeptical.

In response to my concerns, the proponents have now said they are going to partner with a restaurant to come into the space to share adjoining spaces. I'm not sure how that would work. They would like to have a community meeting ON SITE on Wed April 17th at 6:30pm. Can you please help me spread the word far and wide so we can get a large turnout of people who will ask key questions about what they are trying to do?

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

OK, I just looked at http://www.massbenchmarks.org/statedata/data/median99.pdf; Somerville has come up in the world. It's still below average income in Mass., but not nearly as much as it used to be. OTOH, there are only a few suburbs with lower income.

Generally, I'd estimate that if college students form a noticable fraction of the clientelle, it's unlikely to be "upscale".

[davelew.livejournal.com]

Looking at city-wide data is much too coarse for a pedestrian area like Davis Square. You can get much better data from looking at block-by-block data, like here: http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Davis-Square-Somerville-MA.html

It's interesting that some areas (like the 530 households in the neighborhood bordered by Willow, Highland, Boston and Broadway), have average incomes in the $120K per household range, which matches the average income of some of the wealthiest suburbs. With rents and property prices where they are, Davis Square is upscale-- as Foundry, Saloon, Painted Burro and other restaurants have recently discovered.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Well color me astonished that there's any part of Somerville that is upscale. And that's a neat tool you pointed to. Though I notice that the wealthy neighborhoods seem to have around $200k median household income.

[ron_newman]

Maybe we are just disagreeing on what 'upscale' means, as nobody has actually defined that term anywhere in this thread.