Somerville has extended its submission deadline by a week for artists, makers and creative organizations to lease space in its Armory community building. The process is now open until 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Armory request for proposals “is an invitation to make this landmark your home base – and to help grow it into a thriving, multitenant arts and cultural hub at the heart of Somerville,” the city said in a Thursday email. The building is at 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill.
An application requires wading through a 117-page document and, when filling out the forms, attesting to responsibility for reading every part of it. There have been three addenda posted addressing applicant questions from “Tap dancers can be very noisy. Are there any rules or guidelines about making noise in the spaces?” to “Do any of the spaces come with storage?” to “How can an applicant with few or no employees demonstrate that their proposal meets Somerville’s diversity requirements? Does serving a diverse population count?” An addendum from Feb. 27 revised minimum financial requirements and evaluation criteria.
The cutoff for questions was March 6.
Spaces range from a 140-square-foot basement space to the 8,755-square-foot performance hall with mezzanine, and nonperformances spaces go for, at minimum, $16.40 a square foot to $25.50 a square foot.
There are five current tenants (who must reapply), but room for more: They use around 15,000 square feet of the 21,500 square feet usable in the building.
After opening in 2008 as a privately owned arts building, the Armory was seized by the city in May 2021 when the owners considered adding a business use. The city committed to paying $5 million to those owners – the Saters, of The Middle East nightclub complex in Cambridge’s Central Square – in the eminent domain land taking.
The city was slow to pull together a plan for the building; after a contentious process, one was released last summer that puts in place a five-member Armory Advisory Board that reports to the mayor. (That may not be the final form of governance. “The city can seek the services of a nonprofit corporation to govern the Armory,” according to the master plan. The advisory board would advise how to do that.)
Applications to become Armory tenants will be reviewed by the board. Interviews are expected in April and May; tentative selections are expected in May and June; and notice of awards are expected July 13. Leases are expected to start Oct. 5.
The city’s application for tenancy is here.