299 Broadway

Updated September 21, 2026

What's happening

The abandoned Star Market site in Winter Hill is finally being built. The city and the development team broke ground on July 16 on 319 homes across 299 Broadway and 15 Temple Street, 136 of them affordable — more than double what Somerville's inclusionary zoning would have required (Somerville Times, July 13).

The split: at 15 Temple Street, Beacon Communities and RISE Together are building 115 affordable apartments, including homes for households at or below 60% and at or below 30% of area median income. At 299 Broadway, Samuels & Associates and Mark Development are building 204 apartments, 21 of them affordable, plus neighborhood-serving retail and resident amenities. 15 Temple Street is expected to welcome residents in late 2027; 299 Broadway is expected to be complete in early 2028.

The story

The old Star Market has been the neighborhood's defining grievance for years. "Given that the abandoned Star Market has been the number-one issue raised by residents over the years, this is a major win for our community," said Ward 4 Councilor Jesse Clingan, who hosted a celebration of the building's demolition at Winter Hill Brewery on December 6, 2025 (Nov 25, 2025 Council).

Mayor Jake Wilson's groundbreaking announcement made the project a template: "The 299 Broadway and 15 Temple Street project sets the standard for what we should be building more of in Somerville. Well over 100 of the homes here will be affordable, more than double the City's requirement." He credited "the previous administration" and former Mayor Katjana Ballantyne by name for "keeping it whole," noting the project "spans three administrations."

The financing tool matters beyond this site. Somerville used Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing — a state program, administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, that lets a city negotiate a property tax exemption on the increased value of a redeveloped property for up to twenty years in exchange for housing production — to get 299 Broadway built (March 10 Finance). Staff have since pointed to it as the proof of concept for a much larger UCH-TIF zone in Assembly Square and East Somerville, arguing the city can use the tool to push affordability above the state's minimums, as it did here (June 18 Land Use). That fight is on Housing tax-break zone for East Somerville and Assembly Square.

Construction has been running ahead of the ceremony. An issued $3.2 million electrical permit (E26-000769) describes "a Brand New 204 Apartment Mixed use Residential Building," the 299 Broadway half of the 319-home project (city permit data via Citizenserve, Sept 21). Nadkarni told the Finance Committee on June 17 that 299 Broadway was proceeding to vertical construction later in the year (June 17 Finance); the July groundbreaking was billed as the start of that vertical phase. Beacon Communities CEO Dara Kovel called it "a model for expanding much-needed mixed-income housing"; Mark Development CEO Robert Korff described it as "the result of sustained collaboration with the City of Somerville on how to best revitalize a long-dormant site."

The project reports to a standing body most residents have never heard of: the Winter Hill Urban Renewal Plan Civic Advisory Committee, an SRA-linked committee for the urban renewal area, took "updates from 299 Broadway / 15 Temple development teams" at its September 16 meeting (agenda); what the teams reported is not in our sources yet. It is not the school project's Construction Advisory Group, despite the similar name.

Winter Hill has other housing in the pipeline behind it: a permit for a new 50-unit apartment building at 366 Broadway was issued on July 9 (city permit data, Citizenserve export, 2026-09-01).

What's next

Late 2027 — first residents move into the 115 affordable apartments at 15 Temple Street.
Early 2028 — 299 Broadway (204 apartments plus ground-floor retail) completes. Watch for the retail tenanting; a grocery-adjacent use on the old Star Market site would close the loop residents keep raising.
Done — the Council approved the Assembly Square / East Somerville UCH-TIF zone 10-0 on September 10, sold on this project's record; see Housing tax-break zone for East Somerville and Assembly Square for what a first deal there would look like.