Somerville to Open New Affordable Housing in Union Square

SOMERVILLE, MA – A new affordable housing building in Union Square will be unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.

The ceremony will take place at Nu Café, 195 Washington St., just down the street from the complex at 181 Washington St. The 35-unit, four-story property is comprised of affordable one-, two- and three-bedroom units, including eight apartments set aside for families earning at or below 30 percent of the area median income.

Three units are reserved for families with physical disabilities or impairments and two were made available to homeless families. Seventy percent of the units were set aside for households already living or working in Somerville, to ensure that current residents were not displaced during the city's transformation.

The property also holds retail space, and all units are LEED-certified for mid-rise homes and Energy Star-certified for high-rise units.

Thursday's ceremony will begin at 2 p.m., and building tours will be available at 2:30 p.m. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Somerville Community Corporation CEO Daniel LeBlanc and city and community leaders will be on hand to usher in Union Square's newest complex.

For Rent, by Bart Everson, via Flickr under Creative Commons license