Armory Master Plan

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Thanks for visiting the Somerville Armory project page! If you're new here, please take a look at this narrative and reference material - previous public meetings, Advisory Committee meetings, and background information are a good place to start.

Project Overview

Somerville recently acquired the Armory property for use as a public Community Arts Center. The city's Economic Development Division and the Somerville Arts Council (SAC) are supervising a consultant, Create Today, LLC, to compile an Armory Master Plan will guide how the property will serve as an arts center, including a business strategy outlining how the space will be used, managed and financially sustainable.

Project Timeline

The Somerville Economic Development Division and Arts Council are working closely with Create Today LLC to draft the Armory Master Plan. Preliminary research started in 2022. Community meetings were held in the summer of 2023 to review work done to date. As a result, the City decided to garner additional feedback by hosting four additional public meetings from January to April, 2024 before drafting a Master Plan for review in the summer of 2024. We expect the Master Plan to be finalized and submitted to the Mayor in the Fall of 2024. Once the Master Plan is finished, the Economic Development Division and the Arts Council will quickly pivot to implementation.

Project Site

The Somerville Armory is located at 191 Highland Avenue, a nearly 1-acre site between Davis Square and Somerville City Hall. Built in 1903 with three floors and a basement spanning 27,000 square feet, this building contains nearly 22,000 square feet of usable space. It currently features a two-story, 5,600 square foot performance hall with a mezzanine, a ground floor cafe, large work rooms and live/work apartments on the upper floors.

The Armory first served as a National Guard facility until the 1970's and was then transferred to the Massachusetts State Police. Vacant since the mid-1980's, the site was purchased by a private owner in 2004 and renovated in 2009 as a private arts facility and performance space. The City acquired the property in 2021, and will use the forthcoming Master Plan as a roadmap to transition it into a modern public arts center. The City must follow state law in selecting future tenants through public request for proposal (RFP) procedures, and public relocation processes in helping current Armory tenants adjust to future use of the site.