Strategic Plan Complete

Over the last year, through a multitude of channels, including our coUrbanize site, CRA has engaged the Cambridge community to help shape a new Strategic Plan for the organization. We revisited our mission (below) and core principles, as we carefully considered the role of the CRA in Cambridge today, complementing the policy and planning work of the City.

CRA's Mission

The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority is committed to implementing imaginative, creative development that achieves social equity and environmental sustainability. Our goal is to work in the public interest to facilitate infrastructure investments and development projects that integrate commercial, housing, civic, and public uses. We are a public real estate entity with a unique set of redevelopment tools, working in close partnership with the City of Cambridge and other organizations.

Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan sets out a five-year vision and establishes a set of priorities for external activities identified in stakeholder interviews and community meetings that align with our mission. An important component of the plan is the restructuring of our internal operations and our financial management, along with our ongoing commitment to transparency and community outreach.

After many months of public review and comment, the CRA Board approved the Strategic Plan at the July 2014 meeting. We recognize that this is a working document, and that the CRA should remain agile to respond to projects and needs as they arise.

Current and Future Projects

We have already initiated a number of the projects discussed within this plan. We are glad to now be working in close partnership with the City on the redevelopment of the Foundry. We are collaborating with MIT on getting the first phase of the Grand Junction Path built. We are also coordinating with the City, the Kendall Square Association, and local property owners, and the East Cambridge community toward implementation of many elements of the K2 Plan for Kendall Square, such as the formation of an EcoDistrict. And we are diving into the nuts and bolts of how to implement the Community Fund and a temporary use on the Third Street lot.

We will work closely with the City to explore how the CRA expands its scope to other areas of Cambridge in the years to come. We will utilize our mission, the Strategic objective in the plan, as well as continued community feedback to prioritize what other projects to launch into such as the Alewife Quadrangle, Vail Court or the Volpe Center. Additionally, the CRA is committed to researching new initiatives suggested by the City and the Cambridge community.

Project Areas

1. 1st and 2nd Street Corridor: This corridor contains some disparate and underutilized properties in a key zone between the historic East Cambridge neighborhood, Cambridgeside Galleria, courthouse redevelopment, Lechmere station, and Kendall Square activities.

2. 3rd Street Lot: The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority owns this 6,000 square foot lot on the corner of 3rd Street and Binney Street. Recently the site has been used for construction staging site but could accommodate an interim retail/commercial or other use.

3. Concord/Alewife Quadrangle: This 94-acre district between the railroad and Concord Avenue has over 1.5 million square feet of industrial, research, office, schools, and new housing developments. The focus of a 2005-2006 City planning study and rezoning, the area lacks a good roadway network and access across the tracks to the Alewife Station.

4. Foundry: This 60,000 square foot City-owned building is currently vacant and in need of renovation. The City is currently discussing its program and development process.

5. Fresh Pond Shopping Center: This auto-oriented retail center was developed in 1978; the 16-acre site currently has an Activity Use Limitation from MassDEP due to former industrial uses.

6. Grand Junction Path: The CRA owns 1.75 acres of open space along this proposed two-mile multi-use linear path, which will connect East Cambridge, Kendall Square, and Cambridgeport, as proposed in the 2001 East Cambridge Planning Study and a 2006 Feasibility Study.

7. O’Brien Corridor: State Route 28 is a six-lane arterial highway fronted by some vacant and underutilized sites. The adjacent Green Line extension and community path and a proposed roadway redesign will bring change to this area.

8. Vail Court: This 24-unit residential property is in poor condition with boarded up units on the ground floor. The 0.65-acre site is close to the heart of Central Square.

9. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center: The U.S. Department of Transportation conducts state-of-the-art research on this 14-acre site. The existing buildings (340,000 square feet) need reinvestment, and the recent K2C2 plan recommended additional residential, office, and open space development on the site.

10. Webster Avenue: Industrial uses in this area are incompatible with adjacent housing and businesses, and some properties need remediation. This edge of Cambridge is adjacent to the future Green Line Station and proposed development in Somerville.