Globe Article on Copper Mill meeting
Michael Chiu
Rachel Rosenberg
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Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC
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Ashish Shrestha
Text of the article below (forgive the formatting):
To many others, it was the right amount of housing, but in the wrong container.
Or for others, just right, even at 26 stories tall.
Flynn has said he believes there is a consensus to be found somewhere. Maybe that’s below-market rents for mom-and-pop shops and restaurants on the ground floor, or a design at street level that feels more gritty and hip than gleaming and sterile, or a commitment to use only union labor and pack his tower with lots of affordable units. Where he has said he likely can’t compromise, is on the project’s most controversial aspect: its size.
“There’s a difference of opinion here,” said Jason Zube, a member of a local neighborhood council that has been weighing the project informally, and the owner of a Davis Square tattoo shop. “If this is gonna happen, then these guys are gonna need to make their money. And the neighbors are gonna need to be happy. Making everybody happy is impossible. I don’t think that will ever happen.”
The plans for the tower have garnered plenty of attention inside Somerville and beyond because of its scale and ambition, and because it would displace a strip of well-known destinations all at once, among them the popular Irish music pub The Burren, restaurant Dragon Pizza, and McKinnon’s Meat Market.
“The purpose of tonight is to be in listen mode,” Flynn said in an interview before the Tuesday meeting. “Nobody is requiring us to hold this meeting tonight. We in a very genuine way want to be engaged in seeking feedback from the community.”
Group singing at the Burren this year.Matthew J. Lee/Globe StaffFlynn has said that in order for it to be built, the building will need to be profitable. In order for it to be profitable, he said, it will have to be big. So big that its centerpiece would be a structure that is orders of magnitude larger than anything else nearby.
Some neighbors put off by the height have pleaded for reconsideration.
“I know you say it’s not economical to make it smaller, but try, you know?” said Michael Giovinco, a 49-year-old software engineer. “Even a 10-story building that fits with the character, maybe that’s OK. Make it wider, do what you have to do. But the way it is now, I just don’t think it works here.”
The meeting was the first held since Flynn and his company, Copper Mill, filed paperwork with the state which, if approved, would help to expedite construction by allowing it to sidestep some typical zoning hurdles.
But Flynn has said he wants to get as much support as possible for the project, eager for it to move forward with the backing of the city.
Those with unfriendly opinions of the plans certainly made themselves heard on Tuesday.
“I don’t want Davis to become Downtown Somerville,” said Erik Nygren, a 52-year-old Somerville resident who was one of the dozens of people who stood in a long line to speak at a microphone. The neighborhood has planned for years around smaller buildings just a few stories tall, Nygren said. “Something that comes in at 26 stories just seems completely absurd after decades of dialogue on this topic.”
There were other fears as well, including that its construction would be too disruptive for too long, that it would damage the neighborhood’s arts scene, that building here would signal to other investors that it’s open season for skyscrapers in the neighborhood, or that bringing hundreds of new residents to the neighborhood without parking for them would be a blunder.
When Flynn said, during the meeting, that the project would aim to serve car-free residents, who would be ineligible for city parking permits, one woman shouted out: “Then you don’t want families!”
Davis Square, which would change dramatically if a proposed tower is built.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe StaffAt the same time, YIMBYs — as in, “yes in my backyard” — from Somerville and beyond have strongly backed the plans, seeing them as a rare opportunity to build lots of housing in a city where demand for it is extremely high, and next to transit, no less. One person who spoke up at the meeting said they had seen neighborhoods in San Francisco fight new construction for years, and languish as a result, and urged Somerville not to make similar choices.
“There is a silent majority that is unquestionably in favor of housing, transit oriented housing, acknowledges the acute housing crisis that we are in,” Flynn argued in the interview.
In the meantime, Copper Mill has taken extraordinary steps to attempt to get in the city’s good graces, including offering to rebuild The Burren in the new structure once it opens. That plan earned it the backing of The Burren’s owner, Tommy McCarthy, who said as much in a letter of support to the state last year.
“Our intent has been, we want a full consensus around this project,” Flynn said.
One of the Somerville residents he will have to persuade is its new mayor, Jake Wilson, who has said he will wait to take a position on the project.
“My support will depend on your support. We’ll do this together,” he said months before the meeting.
Jake Wilson, the mayor of Somerville.David L. Ryan/Globe StaffThe plans have also taken into account the concerns of neighbors who worried the street-level vibe of Davis Square might shift under the weight of a hulking tower, Flynn said.
Recent renderings show a three-story retail section would sit at ground-level. Flynn has said this area would be built to jibe with its surroundings and, in response to what neighbors said they wanted to see there, would be built with bricks and masonry instead of sleeker, more modern materials.
“One of the comments we heard was, ‘We don’t want this to look like the Seaport.’ That is something we’ve taken to heart,” he said.
Charming the neighborhood has led to some unusual pledges from Flynn’s company. While some big developers might promote the beauty of a tower it plans to build, or note how it would become a centerpiece of its skyline, Flynn has sought to reassure neighbors that the tower, tucked far enough back from the sidewalk, would be less noticeable to visitors than one might think, given its size.
Because the project is still in its very early stages, much is still up for grabs, Flynn said.
At one point during Tuesday night’s meeting, Flynn said that the design looked too much like the Seaport or Kendall Square even for his own liking, and that he wanted his own design team to go back to the drawing board.
When one person said they were frustrated that the developer had never offered alternate design concepts for people to compare, Flynn pledged to produce some within 30 days.
Flynn on Tuesday also announced that as part of its effort to communicate its plans to neighbors, it will open in a few weeks a new project office in a storefront at 235 Elm Street. There, he said, people can take a closer look at the plans for themselves and find Copper Mill staff on hand to answer questions and take note of people’s concerns.
No matter how the design ultimately shakes out, Flynn acknowledged that financing a tower of this size at this moment would be difficult, given the economic pressure developers of all kinds are facing lately.
“Macro economic and global volatility is a huge headwind to this,” he said.
Somerville Police picked up a man in Davis Square in 2024.Pat Greenhouse/Globe StaffBut he said his aspiration is to see a corner of Somerville that has been plagued in recent years by empty storefronts revitalized.
If the plans fail, he said, it might stay the way it is for another decade or more. No one wants that, he said.
“If you look at the existing conditions of the property today, you know it’s dilapidated and getting worse. And I think, to be honest, if folks aren’t willing to engage with us in good faith, it’s gonna look like that for the next 10 years, and dark storefronts aren’t good for anybody.”
Marc Levy
 | |
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JOSIAH AUSPITZ
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Denise Provost
Marc Levy
On Mar 11, 2026, at 12:57, Denise Provost <denise....@verizon.net> wrote:
Thank you, Marc, for covering the storyAnd for not having a paywallDenise
On Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 12:14:06 PM EDT, Marc Levy <edi...@csindie.com> wrote:
Just so you guys know, I wrote about it too for The Independent, which is free.
<260311i-Copper-Mill-renderings.jpeg>
Melissa McWhinney mmcwhinney@comcast.net
A ground-level rendering of the 26-story residential tower proposed for Davis Square.CBT ArchitectsSOMERVILLE — Andrew Flynn, the developer behind a proposed 26-story tower in Davis Square, expected an earful Tuesday when he invited neighbors to talk face-to-face about his latest vision for the project. And that’s what he got.
The sellout crowd packed into Somerville’s Crystal Ballroom, and the many more tuned in via Zoom, had plenty to say about the project, the biggest and most hotly debated housing proposal the neighborhood has seen in years.
To many, it was too big. Too stiff and corporate. Too far afield of the neighborhood’s vibe.
To many others, it was the right amount of housing, but in the wrong container.
Or for others, just right, even at 26 stories tall.
Flynn has said he believes there is a consensus to be found somewhere. Maybe that’s below-market rents for mom-and-pop shops and restaurants on the ground floor, or a design at street level that feels more gritty and hip than gleaming and sterile, or a commitment to use only union labor and pack his tower with lots of affordable units. Where he has said he likely can’t compromise, is on the project’s most controversial aspect: its size.
“There’s a difference of opinion here,” said Jason Zube, a member of a local neighborhood council that has been weighing the project informally, and the owner of a Davis Square tattoo shop. “If this is gonna happen, then these guys are gonna need to make their money. And the neighbors are gonna need to be happy. Making everybody happy is impossible. I don’t think that will ever happen.”
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The plans for the tower have garnered plenty of attention inside Somerville and beyond because of its scale and ambition, and because it would displace a strip of well-known destinations all at once, among them the popular Irish music pub The Burren, restaurant Dragon Pizza, and McKinnon’s Meat Market.
“The purpose of tonight is to be in listen mode,” Flynn said in an interview before the Tuesday meeting. “Nobody is requiring us to hold this meeting tonight. We in a very genuine way want to be engaged in seeking feedback from the community.”
Group singing at the Burren this year.Matthew J. Lee/Globe StaffFlynn has said that in order for it to be built, the building will need to be profitable. In order for it to be profitable, he said, it will have to be big. So big that its centerpiece would be a structure that is orders of magnitude larger than anything else nearby.
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Some neighbors put off by the height have pleaded for reconsideration.
“I know you say it’s not economical to make it smaller, but try, you know?” said Michael Giovinco, a 49-year-old software engineer. “Even a 10-story building that fits with the character, maybe that’s OK. Make it wider, do what you have to do. But the way it is now, I just don’t think it works here.”
The meeting was the first held since Flynn and his company, Copper Mill, filed paperwork with the state which, if approved, would help to expedite construction by allowing it to sidestep some typical zoning hurdles.
But Flynn has said he wants to get as much support as possible for the project, eager for it to move forward with the backing of the city.
Those with unfriendly opinions of the plans certainly made themselves heard on Tuesday.
“I don’t want Davis to become Downtown Somerville,” said Erik Nygren, a 52-year-old Somerville resident who was one of the dozens of people who stood in a long line to speak at a microphone. The neighborhood has planned for years around smaller buildings just a few stories tall, Nygren said. “Something that comes in at 26 stories just seems completely absurd after decades of dialogue on this topic.”
There were other fears as well, including that its construction would be too disruptive for too long, that it would damage the neighborhood’s arts scene, that building here would signal to other investors that it’s open season for skyscrapers in the neighborhood, or that bringing hundreds of new residents to the neighborhood without parking for them would be a blunder.
When Flynn said, during the meeting, that the project would aim to serve car-free residents, who would be ineligible for city parking permits, one woman shouted out: “Then you don’t want families!”
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Davis Square, which would change dramatically if a proposed tower is built. Matthew J. Lee/Globe StaffAt the same time, YIMBYs — as in, “yes in my backyard” — from Somerville and beyond have strongly backed the plans, seeing them as a rare opportunity to build lots of housing in a city where demand for it is extremely high, and next to transit, no less. One person who spoke up at the meeting said they had seen neighborhoods in San Francisco fight new construction for years, and languish as a result, and urged Somerville not to make similar choices.
“There is a silent majority that is unquestionably in favor of housing, transit-oriented housing, acknowledges the acute housing crisis that we are in,” Flynn argued in the interview.
In the meantime, Copper Mill has taken extraordinary steps to attempt to get in the city’s good graces, including offering to rebuild The Burren in the new structure once it opens. That plan earned it the backing of The Burren’s owner, Tommy McCarthy, who said as much in a letter of support to the state last year.
“Our intent has been, we want a full consensus around this project,” Flynn said.
One of the Somerville residents he will have to persuade is its new mayor, Jake Wilson, who has said he will wait to take a position on the project.
“My support will depend on your support. We’ll do this together,” he said months before the meeting.
Jake Wilson, the mayor of Somerville.David L. Ryan/Globe StaffThe plans have also taken into account the concerns of neighbors who worried the street-level vibe of Davis Square might shift under the weight of a hulking tower, Flynn said.
Recent renderings show a three-story retail section would sit at ground level. Flynn has said this area would be built to jibe with its surroundings and, in response to what neighbors said they wanted to see there, would be built with bricks and masonry instead of sleeker, more modern materials.
Advertisement
“One of the comments we heard was, ‘We don’t want this to look like the Seaport.’ That is something we’ve taken to heart,” he said.
Charming the neighborhood has led to some unusual pledges from Flynn’s company. While some big developers might promote the beauty of a tower it plans to build, or note how it would become a centerpiece of its skyline, Flynn has sought to reassure neighbors that the tower, tucked far enough back from the sidewalk, would be less noticeable to visitors than one might think, given its size.
Because the project is still in its very early stages, much is still up for grabs, Flynn said.
At one point during Tuesday night’s meeting, Flynn said that the design looked too much like the Seaport or Kendall Square even for his own liking, and that he wanted his own design team to go back to the drawing board.
When one person said they were frustrated that the developer had never offered alternate design concepts for people to compare, Flynn pledged to produce some within 30 days.
Flynn on Tuesday also announced that as part of its effort to communicate its plans to neighbors, it will open in a few weeks a new project office in a storefront at 235 Elm St. There, he said, people can take a closer look at the plans for themselves and find Copper Mill staff on hand to answer questions and take note of people’s concerns.
No matter how the design ultimately shakes out, Flynn acknowledged that financing a tower of this size at this moment would be difficult, given the economic pressure developers of all kinds are facing lately.
“Macro economic and global volatility is a huge headwind to this,” he said.
Advertisement
Somerville Police picked up a man in Davis Square in 2024.Pat Greenhouse/Globe StaffBut he said his aspiration is to see a corner of Somerville that has been plagued in recent years by empty storefronts revitalized.
If the plans fail, he said, it might stay the way it is for another decade or more. No one wants that, he said.
“If you look at the existing conditions of the property today, you know it’s dilapidated and getting worse. And I think, to be honest, if folks aren’t willing to engage with us in good faith, it’s gonna look like that for the next 10 years, and dark storefronts aren’t good for anybody.”
Spencer Buell can be reached at spence...@globe.com. Follow him @SpencerBuell.