Affordable housing and room for a squeezed Department of Public Works was top of mind at a Monday roundtable in Cambridge about the future of several city-owned properties.
Though the city owns dozens of properties, tentative plans for six sites were discussed at length by City Council and staff for their near-term relevance toward the dual goals.
Three were named for the potential to meet community needs, largely the need for affordable housing: 25 Lowell St., a historic schoolhouse now home to the New School of Music; the field at 185 Larch Road; and 139 Bishop Allen Drive, the former Vail Court apartments.
Named for their relevance toward DPW’s space needs were: the 135 Sherman St. parking lot formerly known as Bellis Circle; Department of Public Work property in Alewife; and 333 Webster Ave., which used to be the Phil’s Towing impound lot. Its owner called it quits in 2022 after almost 40 years after Cambridge softened its approach to removing cars during street-cleaning season – threatening 80 percent of his revenue.
Plans were presented by city manager Yi-An Huang, deputy city manager Kathy Watkins, assistant city manager for community development and joint commissioner of public works Melissa Peters and director of capital building projects Brendan Roy.
25 Lowell St.
The schoolhouse on Lowell Street in West Cambridge, built in 1883, was a public school for almost 100 years until 1980, when the city leased it to the New School of Music, which maintains the building and pays approximately $20,000 in rent to the city. The school subleases to the Cambridge Arts Association. Last September, the council approved a measure to assess the condition and future of the property, which includes a small but somewhat inaccessible park, after a 2024 fire exacerbated needs for maintenance. At the roundtable, the city gave three options for the lot in order of preference: turn it into approximately 20 units of affordable housing; sell it to a nonprofit; or lease it to a nonprofit.
Much of the discussion after city managers presented was on the balancing act between prioritizing affordable housing while maintaining cultural landmarks. City managers pointed to West Cambridge’s relative lack of affordable housing and the property’s ideal location near public transportation and green space as reasons for its conversion. Councillor Cathie Zusy expressed a preference to keep the school as is. “I don’t think we have to give it to West Cambridge here and turn their beautiful cultural space into affordable housing,” Zusy said.
It was possible to accomplish both goals, councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler said: Only part of the building could be converted to housing, a new space for the school could be found or the school could buy the existing property instead of leasing. There would have to be an open-bid process in sale, though, and converting the property into affordable housing would have to go through the state Legislature, due to the land’s protected open space.
“The clear sense I’m getting is that we do not think that’s the best location for affordable housing, and we want to continue to use it to support nonprofits,” Watkins said.
185 Larch Road
Acquired in 2020 by the city, 185 Larch Road is a 4-acre field in West Cambridge the city looks at as a potential space for social housing – publicly financed and owned housing for mixed-income residents, with some permanently affordable units. A small portion of the field would be reserved as open space.
Councillors pointed to the land’s potential to address all kinds of community needs, with Ayah Al-Zubi relaying a community desire for gardening space and Patty Nolan suggesting the spot be home to a swap shop, where residents could go to donate household goods or clothes. “It would only be an eighth of the site or something, but it’s something this city has wanted,” Nolan said. The ability to reuse goods is part of the city’s Zero Waste Master Plan concept, she noted.
139 Bishop Allen Drive
While acquisition of 185 Larch Road from Buckingham, Browne & Nichols was relatively friendly – the private day school needed to fund an expansion in Watertown – the process of eminent domain used to acquire 139 Bishop Allen Drive proved difficult. After the city assumed ownership of the Central Square property in 2016 and transferred it to the Affordable Housing Trust, the former owners sued. That ended in the city’s payout of a $4.3 million settlement. Now, eight years since the city intended to start construction, the city plans to issue a request for quotes from developers interested in the project. A community meeting is expected in May to reintroduce the plan, followed by a series of meetings to shape the project that will run into early 2027; after a selected developer secures funding, construction on a new 100 percent affordable housing project will begin.
333 Webster Ave.
The lot at 333 Webster Ave. in Inman Square would be used to house the city’s Forestry Division temporarily and become affordable housing in the long term. Already, buildings have been demolished on the property, which includes some land in Somerville (though is still fully owned by Cambridge), and the division is expected to move in by the end of June. The Cambridge Arts Council is giving input on how to make the property more attractive, including murals along Webster Avenue, given its proximity to an MBTA green line station.
135 Sherman St.
The city sees this North Cambridge parking lot as the perfect place to deal with combined system overflows, which occur when the city’s sewer system is overwhelmed by heavy rains and sends waste backing up into homes and dumping into public waterways. To help solve this, the DPW would add a 2 million-gallon storage tank under the lot – far preferable to installing a tank under the road, which would require more than a mile of closed roads and work around other utilities, staff said.
“It has the ability to really eliminate combined sewer overflows from a typical year,” Watkins said of the tank.
After installing the tank, the city could house move forestry and public works uses here, freeing 333 Webster Ave. to become affordable housing. The Sherman Street lot would also include a bike and pedestrian connection from Danehy Park; last month, staff told councillors they are confident that money to pay for a bridge over Fitchburg Line train tracks from Danehy to the Rindge Avenue neighborhood would also come together.
Alewife DPW
Public Works leases 4 acres in Alewife, providing needed space for department operations. The city is looking at the department getting a 1-acre portion of the area permanently as part of a new neighborhood built by the life sciences developer Healthpeak. With another acre at 135 Sherman St. being permanent land for the department, this would expand its current 4 acres of land across the city temporarily. “What we’re talking about for DPW would end up being a total of 6 acres,” Watkins said, without explaining how long that would be the case.
The city also plans a conversion in the fall about other city-owned vacant spaces, including a onetime health clinic at 205 Western Ave., Riverside; community arts building 105 Windsor St., The Port; and a house at 3 Bigelow St., Mid-Cambridge.
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