‘This is the soul of Somerville.' Long-planned ‘tough tech' campus wins key city vote.
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The successful rezoning follows two prior proposals to develop around 2 million square feet at the site, with buildings up to 16 stories tall. Those proposals proved unpopular with the community, and Rafi in February 2024
'This is the soul of Somerville, right?' said Ben Ewen-Campen, a Somerville City Councilor, at a committee meeting in June. 'I've had very meaningful conversations with people who are worried about just an onslaught of high value, large, snazzy developments... increasing the threat of displacement, kind of changing the nature of our community.'
Art outside of 12 Tyler Street in Somerville.
David L. Ryan/ Boston Globe Staff
The most recent rezoning was proposed by the city of Somerville — not Rafi — and featured a vision of a scaled-down project. This newest iteration of Somernova's expansion also includes a community benefits agreement where Rafi has committed to developing more than of 100,000 square feet of arts and music space.
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The developer has also finalized a project labor agreement with the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions, the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, and Shawmut Design and Construction to guarantee union jobs at the Somernova project.
'Our community has been on kind of a learning curve, from the billions of dollars that were invested in Assembly Square,
The Somernova rezoning comes as empty life-science lab space has multiplied across Somerville and Greater Boston and along the extended MBTA Green Line.
Tough tech space needs to be flexible enough to accommodate multiple technologies but does not require nearly the level of sophisticated buildout as biotech labs, said Travis McCready, the head of industries leasing advisory in the Americas for brokerage JLL in Boston, who also chairs the firm's global life sciences advisory board.
'If you're servicing the broader tough tech community, then you don't need a purpose-built asset,' McCready said. 'Tough tech doesn't need a Lamborghini. It needs a high-performing sedan.'
Rafi has owned the Somernova site since April 2018, when it paid a combined $88 million to acquire multiple parcels along Somerville Avenue, Park Street, Tyler Street, and Dane Street, according to Middlesex County records.
Beyond developing a 43,200-square-foot research and development warehouse at 599 Somerville Ave., the firm has little large-scale development experience in Boston. But Rafi has spent years trying to better understand its tenants' needs, said Kristin Phelan, Rafi's vice president of real estate.
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'How can we help them? What are their challenges?' Phelan said. 'That has been our commitment since day one.'
A view of 8-10 Tyler Street in Somerville.
David L. Ryan/ Boston Globe Staff
A tough tech lab differs from a biotech lab in several key ways, Phelan said. For example, while a biotech tenant might need a 15-foot ceiling and redundant air flow, a tough tech tenant would need 20- to 25-foot ceilings and floors heavy enough to handle forklifts and other heavy equipment. That type of lab space 'does not exist' in Somerville, Phelan said.
The development's first phase would likely be a 350,000-square-foot building at the corner of Tyler and Dane streets that would provide expansion space for the tough- and climate-tech focused companies already located at Greentown Labs or The Engine, Phelan said.
'These companies in this space are growing fast, and therefore need to be able to be nimble,' she said. 'And they need to be able to move into larger spaces quickly.'
Rafi will work closely with Somernova's existing tenants to develop a master plan and first phase of development before formally proposing the project to Somerville officials, said Collin Yip, Rafi's founder and managing partner.
'We are cautiously optimistic about the demand ... from the tough tech industries,' Yip said in a statement. 'Companies have not stopped scaling at Somernova.'
Catherine Carlock can be reached at
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