Early last month, the MBTA Board of Directors approved a $29 million contract for the construction of the Assembly Square T station. The new stop will be located in Somerville on the Orange Line between the Wellington and Sullivan Square T stops.

According to the MBTA website, the new station is in conjunction with the Assembly Square redevelopment district, which centers on a proposed redevelopment project of 2,100 residential units, a 200-room hotel and 2.75 million square feet of retail and office space, including a brand new IKEA.

Assembly Square station will be built to “provide regional transit access and an alternative to auto traffic” to the new development. Wig Zamore, a founding member of Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), told Tufts Daily the station will impact about 200,000 Orange Line riders as well as one million public transit riders whose daily MBTA travels intersect with the Orange Line. By 2030, Assembly Square station is predicted to draw 5,000 passengers on average per weekday.

Don’t get too excited yet, though – the new station is scheduled to be completed in fall 2014. The project will be funded through both public and private partnerships with state and federal agencies as well as the developer Federal Realty Investment Trust.

The MBTA has released sketches of what the Assembly Square station will look like when open in three years. Check out the images below.

What do you think of the new Assembly Square station?

Images via MBTA.com