"This agreement will be the commercial economic engine for this area, and for the city at large," Mayor Dorothy A. Kelly Gay said in her remarks at the memorandum of agreement signing.

Taurus Investments, along with National Development, bought the failed Assembly Square Mall in 1997 for $15 million. When Mayor Gay took office two years later she reviewed the company's plans for the 26-acre tract and did not like its focus on retail stores. "The mayor felt that since this was the last large parcel of undeveloped land, and the only waterfront area, in Somerville new ideas were needed for development," Shawn Fitzgerald, press secretary for the mayor's office tells GlobeSt.com. "To go from a failed retail plan to another retail plan didn't make sense."

The Cecil Group and the city commissioned a planning study and Taurus agreed upon a plan that includes a mixed-use development, eventual high-density office space, the creation of a main street and construction of a MBTA (mass transit) stop. Taurus also agreed to a substantial community benefits package including the five-year linkage package paid up front.