Proposed apartment tower puts Somerville’s Burren at risk

On a sleepy Monday night in February, the Burren in Somerville’s Davis Square was very much awake. Inside, the pub was decked out in red twinkly lights for Valentine's Day. Diners piled in for the dinner rush. As the evening wore on, a sprawling circle of musicians filled up a corner by the bar, infusing the din with Irish jigs and reels.

These open jam sessions are a hallmark of the Burren, a legendary Irish bar and music venue that was founded in 1996. On weekends, college kids swarm the back room for late night cover bands. The bar’s international reputation has made it a regular tour stop for the biggest names in Celtic music.

“ There's just such an incredible vibe here that I just haven't ever felt at another place,” said Summer McCall, a Somerville-based musician and the director of the Boston Celtic Music Festival. “You walk by on a Sunday afternoon, and you hear the tunes wafting through the window, and you want to come in, and you want to see what's happening. You're encouraged to sit down, even if it's just for a cup of tea. To me, this feels like a slice of Ireland.”

Now, McCall and other musicians who frequent the Burren worry it’s at risk. The bar sits on a block of Elm Street where a local developer wants to build a large apartment tower.

Musicians say tearing down the Burren would cost them an important source of income. They say they want more housing – just not here.

“ It should happen,” McCall said. “But not at the expense of the Burren.”

The proposal has thrown into conflict residents’ desire to preserve cultural space with the need to build more housing and fix the region’s affordability crisis – even as some argue that a compromise is possible.

Myer Dana and Sons, which owns the building that houses the Burren at 247 Elm Street, has been trying to develop the property for some time. A plan to build labs would have left the Burren intact, but Boston’s lab market has dropped precipitously in the last year or so. The most recent idea, by Boston developer Copper Mill, proposes an audacious 25-story tower with 500 rental apartments, 100 of them affordable, with retail space downstairs. The developer has been holding public meetings about the project, and has filed no official plans with the city. The parcel is zoned to allow a maximum of four stories.

Awareness of the plan picked up in January, when anonymous flyers criticizing the project appeared in Davis Square. In February, a public meeting held by Copper Mill drew so many concerned residents that dozens were turned away at the door. Many expressed skepticism at the developer’s plan.

“A lot of people don’t want to see the Burren go,” said Clare Fraser, an Irish fiddler who heard about the meeting through other musicians. Closing down the Burren, she added, “would really damage people's ability to actually make money and survive.”

But others were open to the proposal, like Cambridge resident Neil Miller, who said he frequents the Burren often for concerts and dancing.

“At the same time, we need more housing,” Miller said. “We've been under-building in this area for 40-plus years. And the rents are crazy. I’ve got many, many friends who have moved out of the area because they can't afford the rent here anymore.”

It’s hard to overstate how desperately Massachusetts needs more housing. Low supply and high demand are driving up housing costs, and evictions have increased. Somerville is part of a coalition of metro Boston cities and towns that has pledged to build 185,000 new housing units by the year 2030. The city aims to make 20% of its housing stock permanently affordable by 2040.

So when the plan to build labs fizzled, the issue of housing came to the fore.

Elaine Almquist, president of the newly-formed Davis Square Neighborhood Council, recalled the first public meetings held by Copper Mill in the fall. (The council has not yet been formally recognized by the city.) She said the developer asked residents what kind of development, if any, they would like to see in Davis Square.

“ I think we looked around, the residents, and we were like, ‘There's a housing crisis,’” Almquist said. “‘This is a transit hub. We really need housing.’”

City officials emphasized the importance of balancing the need for housing and commercial development with preserving the city’s character.

“We have goals, we want to see growth,” said Tom Galligani, the  executive director of the Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. “[But] we don’t want to lose our soul in the process.” At the same time, he admitted, “ If you don't have a consistent supply of housing that matches the demand, then that's going to raise prices … and people who can’t afford it will get displaced.”

Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said the city encourages developers to preserve businesses, either by helping them relocate or bringing them back.

Small businesses like the Burren “represent our identity,” Ballantyne said. “They're part of the economy and certainly part of our cultural fabric. So, if there's a developer who decides to build, they're held to a really high standard.”

According to Copper Mill CEO Andrew Flynn, returning the Burren to the proposed development is a possibility. “ We want nothing more than for the Burren to be there for the next 50 years,” Flynn said, adding that Copper Mill had offered to extend the Burren’s lease and return the bar to the new building at the same rent. They could even preserve its distinctive wooden interior.

But whether such a deal will be reached is an open question. Burren owner Tommy McCarthy declined a request for comment. He and his wife Louise Costello also own the Bebop in Boston, and are opening up a new bar and music venue not far from the Burren in Cambridge’s Porter Square. Their lease for the Burren is up in August.

Flynn estimated that, if the development goes forward, the Burren would have to close for 15 to 18 months – a scenario he hopes to convince people is a pretty good one. But without community support, Copper Mill will have difficulty building anything.

“If one were to ask people that we have been engaged with, I think there's been a building of trust in both directions,” Flynn said. “For those who are … galvanized around the Burren, we welcome them to the table.”