SOMERVILLE, MA-After more than six years, the city’s Board of Alderman finally approved a zoning ordinance for Assembly Square Mall that paves the way for the redevelopment of the 26-acre site. The vote was 8-3. The move is a welcome one for the beleaguered developers of the property who have been trying for years to get a mixed-use project built on the property. Taurus New England Investment Corp. purchased the site six years ago. The developer proposed a largely retail project as well as a Home Depot store but has been battling local groups opposed to the idea. IKEA, the Swedish furniture chain, wanted to build a store on land that abuts the mall but a lawsuit filed by a local citizen’s group, Mystic View Task Force, has put a halt to those plans. City Mayor Joe Curtatone, says he has made passage of the legislation his highest priority after taking office in January. “We have put our differences aside and seized a tremendous opportunity,” he says. “We can now begin to build the next great neighborhood in Somerville.” The zoning will allow Assembly Square Limited Partners, which is comprised of Taurus and Gravistar, to re-tenant the site’s existing mall and begin building a 300,000-sf mixed-use Main Street adjacent to the mall. It will also allow IKEA to seek expedited approval to build office and residential space next to its planned home furnishings store. According to a fiscal impact analysis conducted last month, the city will gain $4.2 million in tax revenue from the mall, the new Main Street and the IKEA development. Under the zoning proposal, the developers would be able to take advantage of a fast-track “Priority Development Process,” if their plans meet any of the following criteria: One hundred and fifty units of new housing, including 18 affordable housing units, combined with ground-floor retail tenanting; high density mixed-use–office, residential or retail–buildings within 1,000 feet of the proposed MBTA Orange Line entrance, provided that residential use is no more than 50% of the total square footage; redevelopment of an existing mall provided that no retail use shall occupy more than 75,000 sf and that no building and construction materials store is included; and, a project approved under the interim zoning currently in effect that needs approval for additional phases, such as IKEA’s proposal.Curtatone notes that the zoning proposal also addresses a major concern of community activists by prohibiting Home Depot from locating at the mall. It also re-establishes a Waterfront Overlay District, setting open space and design requirements on areas adjacent to the Mystic River. Curtatone emphasizes that the zoning proposal is closely tied to the two covenant agreements signed earlier this week with Assembly Square Limited Partners and IKEA. Under the Assembly Square Limited Partners agreement, the developers committed to build the new Main Street in phases over the next six years or face the penalty of forfeiting their land to the city for one dollar. Curtatone said the city would meet with the developers immediately to begin the permitting process. Calls to Taurus for comment were not returned by press time.

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