The Center for Arts at the Armory will remain the anchor tenant at the Armory, the Somerville-owned community arts building, the city said Thursday in announcing the first tenants accepted formally under a city management plan.
The Acoustic Strings of New England shop also survives as a tenant, along with the producer Dead Moon Audio. New tenants will include Badd Architect, which makes spatial art and sculptural installations; the poet and artist Birch Lo; the Larp Adventure Program; a tap dance studio run by Luke Nonas-Hunter; and ReCreate, a makerspace with a focus on repairs.
Arts at the Armory is a nonprofit that books the historic building’s main hall, cafe and Unit B5 – a rentable space known as the Lavender Room.
“We’re of course thrilled to be able to remain at the Armory. Most importantly, we’re grateful that we can continue operating our spaces and offering the programming our community has known and loved for the past 18 years,” said Stephanie Scherpf, co-director of the Center for Arts at the Armory, calling it “a very long five years since the city acquired the Armory.”
The Out of the Blue Art Gallery won’t be a tenant – it didn’t apply, owner Parama Chattopadhyay said. She was given a unique 1,350-square-foot live-work space by the previous owners of the Armory, the Sater family, owners and operators of Cambridge’s Middle East nightclub complex. Contention between the gallery and city led to an offer to apply only for art display space and a hearing to determine how Chattopadhyay might depart.
A city-hired consultant has been helping the gallery and Chattopadhyay relocate. The gallery – which was in Cambridge from the 1990s until 2017 – is heading toward a September reopening in Waltham, Chattopadhyay said. It will display art also in Allston and at the Middle East in Cambridge.
“I’m very sad to leave Somerville,” Chattopadhyay said, crediting mayor Jake Wilson for moving the situation toward a mutually agreeable decision. “I’m happy they’re giving me something; they were trying to give me nothing.” She said a complaint to the state about discrimination will go on.
Opened in 2008
After making extensive renovations to a historic but deteriorated space built in 1904, the Saters opened the 27,000-square-foot Armory at 191 Highland Ave. in 2008 as an arts building. Somerville enacted a $5 million eminent domain land seizure in May 2021 after the owners considered adding a business use.
An awkward and halting series of planning processes followed, leading to creation of an Armory Advisory Board and a “request for proposals” process in which tenants had to make an argument for their continued use of the space and new tenants were invited to apply. The Armory’s tenants were using around 15,000 square feet in a 21,500-square-foot building.
The next phase of the process includes finalizing lease agreements and planning move-ins with the awardees. Future programming and use of the remaining vacant spaces “will be considered only after all possible awards through the current process have been completed,” according to a city press release Thursday.
“This marks an exciting milestone in implementing the Armory Master Plan and ensuring the building serves as a thriving center for arts, culture and community,” said Rachel Strutt, interim director of Somerville Arts & Culture.
The press release included a quote from advisory board members: “We’re excited about the new energy coming to the Armory and look forward to supporting its next chapter as a vital home for arts, culture, and community in Somerville.”
“Created significant uncertainty”
Center for Arts at the Armory staff celebrated its news Thursday at Highland Kitchen, Scherpf said. As the team went back to work Friday, she had criticisms of what led to the good news.
“The city will rightly say that it preserved the Armory from being converted to nonarts uses, and we agree that protecting this building as a cultural resource matters. At the same time, there were many possible paths to that outcome,” Scherpf said. “The process ultimately chosen over the past five years created significant uncertainty for our organization, disrupted our business model, affected our staff, complicated fundraising and limited our ability to serve the community as fully as we would have liked.”
“We’re relieved to have cleared this major hurdle, but there are still important questions ahead – including the financial terms of our lease, how the building will be governed and managed and how long-overdue capital needs such as the roof, parking lot, and basement will be addressed through the city’s capital planning process,” Scherpf said.
In a written statement, she said, “Our focus is on turning the page. We are committed to working collaboratively with the city and our many community partners to ensure that this extraordinary building reaches its full potential as a vibrant home for artists, audiences, and the people of Somerville and Greater Boston for years to come.”
This post was updated July 16, 2026, to correct the square footage of the Out of the Blue art gallery space. It was updated July 17, 2026, to add more information and quotes regarding the Center for Arts at the Armory.
About The Author
