Gilman Square could look very different in a few years, if a new proposal from local housing advocates moves ahead. Nonprofit developer Just A Start and the Somerville Community Land Trust have unveiled early designs for a seven-story, 100% affordable apartment building at 297 Medford Street, with roughly 50 homes over a ground-floor commercial space and on-site services geared toward families and longtime neighborhood residents. The partners say the project is intended to lock in permanently affordable housing while keeping a community-driven design process going through 2026.
Designs aim to blend new housing with neighborhood character
The first concept drawings sketch out a building that tries not to loom over Gilman Square. The massing is broken into smaller volumes with expressed bays, and the design team is floating a painted blue first floor as a visual nod to Portuguese tile. A garage entrance would be shifted onto Medford Street to cut down on conflicts with people walking and biking.
Draft plans show a mix of larger and smaller homes: 10 three-bedroom units, 23 two-bedrooms and 17 one-bedrooms. The proposal includes extensive basement bike parking, 10 ground-floor car spaces and a small retail bay fronting the sidewalk. All apartments would be income-restricted at or below 60% of area median income, according to Cambridge Day.
Who is building and how it will be funded
Just A Start is co-developing the site with the Somerville Community Land Trust after securing the property in September 2025, following a City Council vote to amend zoning on the parcel to allow more homes, according to the developer. The team is piecing together a familiar affordable-housing funding cocktail that starts with early-stage grants and site-readiness awards, then layers in tax-credit equity and other public dollars as it prepares state funding applications.
Those early steps and the financing strategy are outlined in an acquisition announcement from Just A Start and in materials the team submitted to the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Community reaction and next steps
The initial designs drew a small crowd at a lightly attended community meeting in early June, where the developers laid out the path ahead. They said the next major move is to apply for state funding while continuing to tweak the plans based on resident feedback.
People who spoke up, including local housing advocates and nearby library staff, kept circling back to two priorities: more family-sized units and rock-solid, permanent affordability. Those themes surfaced repeatedly in public comments. Developers told attendees that if financing and permitting stay on track, construction could start in 2028 at the earliest and wrap up around 2030, and that future community sessions may shift online to draw more participants, as reported by Cambridge Day.
What to watch
Several big variables will decide whether 297 Medford Street breaks ground on schedule: design feedback from neighbors, the outcome of state tax-credit competitions and the availability of early-stage awards. The development partners say they will keep up outreach and post updates, documents and an evolving timeline on their project pages at Just A Start and the Somerville Community Land Trust.
