“We had, of course, done most of the work on creating that plan,” Zucker says. “While lucent chose to try to go another route,” he says Somerset did try to work with Elsie Sterling for a time. “We were willing to step back in and realize this vision we had put forth, which toward the end of a very long process had been well-received by the community.”

But then Somerset was ready, willing and eager to step back in, he tells GlobeSt.com, when Elsie Sterling missed a payment to continue its option the property in August.

Lucent has marketed the property since 2006, and originally signed a contract with a Pennsylvania developer who proposed to demolish of the building, saying it was functionally obsolete. That sparked an international campaign to save it, joined by Bell labs alumni, architects and historians from every corner of the globe – and several design summits aimed at coming up with a re-use plan.

Somerset Development first became interested in the property off Crawfords Corner Road in 2007 and produced its Town enter concept in 2010, staging an “open house” at the building – once guarded night and day to protect the secrecy of the research work that went on there – to engage local residents in its re-imagining.

“We lost control of the property for a time,” Zucker said Thursday, “but we never lost a deep sense of pride in helping to achieve a consensus on the repositioning and redevelopment of this singular, significant incredible space.”

Mayor Patrick Impreveduto said late last year that he had come to the conclusion that a development plan could not succeed without housing being one of the elements. He said after the announcement that Somerset was back in the picture that he was confident the property’s revitalization is now in sight.