New MBTA Stop Part Of Massive Somerville Project
SOMERVILLE (CBS) - The screeching brakes are a welcome sound in Somerville. They come the first batch of trains to stop at the new "Assembly" MBTA stop.
The $56 million station talked about for nearly two decades opened to the delight of many local riders.
"For the longest time the only way to get to Assembly Square was by a bus and everything, now it will be a whole lot easier to get to," a rider said.
"It is nice, we are about to go to the mall," another rider said.
Yes, located just a few hundred yards from the new "T" stop is Assembly Row, a $1.5 billion multi-use project, consisting of more than 2,000 rental units, restaurants, office space and high end retail.
The new shopping area boasts some of the swankiest players; Pendleton, Brooks Brothers and Banana Republic, just to name a few. But here is the difference; many of these stores consider themselves outlets, offering cheaper prices on some big name high end brands.
Russell Joyner is the general manager of Assembly Row.
"The thing that is different about Assembly Row is that we have an outlet collection located so close to downtown Boston and so that is what makes the project unique."
Restaurants like Legal Seafood have also invested heavily, and are hoping for lots of new customers.
Rich Vellante is the executive chef. "I think it is a lot of the residents who live here, I think it is a lot of people who live on the outskirts of the city who maybe don't want to fight traffic to go into the city."
There is plenty of construction still going on but the hope is this new "T" stop on the Orange Line will help deliver only good news to Assembly Row.
The new stop is just one of six new stops planned for Somerville in the next decade.
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