The developer of 1740 Massachusetts Ave. at Linnaean Street got its flowers Tuesday from Cambridge’s Planning Board, whose members welcomed a few small changes and embraced the apartment project as a good addition to the neighborhood just south of Porter Square.
“This project has really grown on me,” member Diego Macias said, followed by Ashley Tan: “I’m definitely getting more excited about this project.” Chair Tom Sieniewicz praised the collaboration between architect Peter Quinn and owner Old North Development for creating “a very, very high-quality building” with touches – such as benches for passersby – that are in “the very best spirit of a private developer, understanding that he also is shaping the public realm.”
Sieniewicz also gave credit to the developers for engaging in the process. “You listened,” he told the Old North team. “This is just one example of why I’m on the Planning Board, to find those moments where the evolution and the development of this city contributes to civic life.”
Under new zoning, residential projects such as this one can go up largely by right, but developers must make community presentations and get two purely advisory consultations with the board.
This final discussion clears the way for Old North to pursue the timeline it’s described: demolition of the current one-story building as soon as this summer, followed by 18 to 20 months of construction, ending in a 64,330-square-foot, six-story building with 71 homes – 13 of them affordable, including a pair of three-bedroom units – and bicycle parking (75 long-term and 13 short-term spaces), but no car parking.
Designs include a cafe space and more ground-floor and basement commercial space that could host the return of Simon’s Coffee Shop and Keezer’s clothing store after construction.
“Keezer’s wants to come back and wants the entire lower-level retail area,” the Porter Square Neighbors Association said in November after a presentation from Old North’s Adam Siegel. “Adam hopes to entice Simon to come back, possibly with interior seating in the building lobby. Walgreens is not expected to return, so Adam is looking for a strong tenant or two for his corner anchor space, possibly a pharmacy.”
Updates since the Feb. 10 board consultation include such things as pulling back the facade to create more space around the potential coffee shop; trying to accommodate a Bluebikes rental station on Linnaean Street and more short-term bike parking; installing oversized elevators that will be friendly to cargo bikes; enlarging some windows; and switching to more efficient, quieter heating and air conditioning condensers – Ephoca units made in Italy – that will allow more room on the roof for a solar array, deck and green roof plantings.
An idea blossoms
The change that most delighted Planning Board members was a bit of public art. Renderings, though not a final design, show a mural depicting Linnea borealis flowers that would be printed directly onto the building’s cream cladding to stay vibrant over time.
“As you probably know, Linnaean Street is named after Carl Linnaeus, who was the father of botany, [and] at the other end of Linnaean Street was the original Harvard botanical garden, which was one of the reasons it was named Linnaean Street,” Quinn said.
“It was Carl Linnaeus’ favorite flower, and he named it after himself, I believe,” Siegel said.
Sieniewicz said it was a lovely idea that “locks this building into this particular place, into a piece of Cambridge history” – and, with other board members, he brainstormed for Old North how they might arrive at a mural’s final form, including field trips to City Hall Annex to see work by the artist Mike Glier, or to the Mass General Brigham hospital’s Hale Building, where a lobby cafeteria is painted to suggest the shadows of a tree. “So check that out,” Sieniewicz said.
“Maybe part of what everyone is hedging around is,” said member Mary Lydecker, inadvertently punning, “it would be amazing if you engaged an artist to participate in the creation of whatever the final graphic is.”
When Macias arrived at his comments, they were mainly on green aspects. “The roof is going to be awesome for the residents, also the public-facing aspects of it like the mural is going to be a great addition and hopefully will survive. It’s a great design,” he said, urging collaborations with artists and references to the Harvard botanical garden (a role that was replaced by Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum in Boston). “This gives the building a sense of place and belonging.”
Developers really deliver
The discussion also revealed to board members that they have been pronouncing the street wrong – as LINN-ee-an, when Quinn and Siegel cited the father of the field of taxonomy as Linn-AY-in. “It’s good to know at last how to pronounce it correctly,” member Mary Flynn said, while Sieniewicz said he doubted he’d be able to correct his own, decades-long mispronunciation.
Tan had another reason to appreciate the presentation and project in the addition of housing stock that reflected changing times thoughtfully. She pointed to the project’s approach to a spot for deliveries. “Residents will really appreciate it. I’ve been to so many buildings where you see 10 bags of food on the floor,” she said.
“I’m sure you know this new housing stock is something obviously the city wants to see more of, and I’m excited to see the team trying to make this really happen,” Tan said.
No residents asked to speak during an available public comment period, and Sieniewicz said no written comments had been received for the meeting.
This post was updated May 13, 2026, to note the lack of public comment on the project.
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