City, developers see Alewife boom

A Trader Joe's supermarket and other stores will occupy the new building rising where a Ground Round restaurant stood. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Rubberneckers driving along Alewife Brook Parkway curious about all the construction, pay attention: In addition to the CVS Pharmacy and the Circle Furniture store already in place, the plaza at the edge of the traffic circle will soon be home to Trader Joe's, Chipotle, T-Mobile, Sleepy's, and a bank.

The string of new retailers poised to move into the former site of the Ground Round and Tin Alley Grill restaurants is just one indication of the initiatives that city planners and private developers have outlined for the stretch of strip malls, office buildings, and industrial sites that line the parkway from Fresh Pond to Route 2 at the northwest edge of Cambridge.

At present, the area "doesn't really have a focus, it has no organized street pattern, and some streets don't even have sidewalks," said Susan Glazer, deputy director of the city's Community Development Department. "It's unlike any other area in Cambridge, and it's the last area that has significant development potential in the city."

A committee report put together by local residents and business owners in 2005, as well as zoning changes implemented in 2006, sought to make the city's Concord Avenue/Alewife area more pedestrian-friendly and more attractive to small businesses, and to increase opportunities for housing development, Glazer said.

"Since then, there have been a few new developments that have come through the city's special-permit process," she added.

A housing development is planned for Fawcett Street in the heavily industrial neighborhood just west of the parkway, and another is planned for Cambridge Park Drive, by the Alewife T station. "The two permitted developments will be doing infrastructure developments - street, roadway, and sidewalk improvements," she said. "That is the next step in terms of the implementation of the plan."

The 2005 committee report outlined the unusual characteristics of the area and identified challenges for development.

"To a great extent, the area's special character is derived from its industrial history, its proximity to some of Cambridge's primary open-space resources, including the Alewife Reservation, and its proximity to transit," the report stated.

Potential developments in the area have therefore raised concerns about impacts on traffic and on the environment.

"The Alewife area is already one of the most congested in the state," said state Representative Will Brownsberger. "It's a matter of great concern that relatively intense development is expected in the area."

Traffic along the parkway generates heated debate. Commuters and residents alike hold various opinions about whether the two traffic circles in the area exacerbate the problem, whether the bike lane on Concord Avenue creates another backlog, and whether the MBTA could alleviate car use by making its Alewife station more accessible or by adding a stop on the commuter rail, which runs past Alewife but stops at Porter Square.

"Our challenge is to improve public transportation and to facilitate pedestrian and bicycle travel in the area to . . . reduce congestion to accommodate whatever beneficial developments are planned," said Brownsberger.

The presence of two wetlands areas - Fresh Pond Reservation to the southwest and Alewife Brook Reservation to the northeast - have also prompted calls for careful development.

The city and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation have created detailed plans for protecting the wetlands areas, but, Glazer added, the city's Planning Department has also created "urban design guidelines so future development would be responsive to storm-water and open-space" concerns for the area.

With the host of retailers scheduled to set up shop next to the Alewife Brook Parkway rotary over the next six months, and the Best Western Hotel Tria undergoing a $10 million renovation project that will nearly double its room capacity, "this area will be upgrading materially," said Joel Kadis, vice president of leasing and asset management for Linear Retail Properties, which owns the site where Trader Joe's, Chipotle, and others will be moving in.

"This area always had a tremendous amount of potential but maybe was a bit tired-looking," Kadis said. The projects will focus on making the center more accessible by foot and by bike. "We want to emphasize pedestrian access with a lot of walkways, bike racks, and sidewalks all along the perimeter."

The construction is part of a 20-year plan designed to bring more mixed-use infrastructure and roadways to the area, Glazer said. However, "in this economy, there isn't as much development going on."

"The economy is very challenging right now, but we had a huge amount of competition for all of our spaces," Kadis said. "This site has lots of residents, a lot of traffic, and high visibility. All the fundamentals are there, and a lot of retailers really wanted to get into this site.

"It's going to be a material and visual change in a real positive way."