Chicago-based Magellan Development Group and partner Mesirow Financial will handle the $1 billion redevelopment of Union Square in Somerville.

The Boston Business Journal reports the Somerville Redevelopment Authority selected US2 ( a.k.a. Magellan Development and Mesirow Financial) over heavy-hitters Gerding Edlen (315 on A), Federal Realty Trust (Assembly Row) and the Abbey Group (45 Province).

Magellan Development Group will manage the entire 12-acre Union Square Revitalization Plan “and will have authority to take property by eminent domain,” the BBJ reports. The total scope of the project is 2.3 million square feet of new development along seven blocks.

Ten firms originally applied to undertake the billion dollar Union Square gig, before the list was cut down to four. At a June 23 meeting, the Union Square Civic Advisory Committee (CAC) and a report by the Mayor’s office of Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) recommended US2 and Gerding Edlen to the SRA.

Ultimately, the CAC and OSPCD cited US2’s commitment to on-the-ground engagement in the community from the beginning of the master developer selection process and desire spur Somerville’s innovation economy.

“[US2 undertook] more outreach than anyone else,” OSPCD director Ed O’Donnell told BostInno in a phone call. The Chicago-based developer “actively generated support among [Somerville’s] business and innovation economy,” O’Donnell added.

Here’s a link to US2’s Union Square presentation (see: page 34).

O’Donnell pointed to US2’s thorough understanding of Somerville’s shifting economy, which was cultivated through talks with MassChallenge, Greentown Labs and Workbar.

“It’s been a struggle to find space in [Somerville’s] innovation economy,” O’Donnell said, adding that a lack of land and available infrastructure has “held back economic expansion.”

But US2’s redevelopment of Union Square will occur as simultaneous construction continues on the MBTA Green Line Extension. The T’s billion dollar project is set to add six new stations across Medford and Somerville, including a new Union Square station at Washington Street, and relocate Lechmere Station in Cambridge. When the planned expansion is complete, it could ultimately serve as a catalyst to Somerville’s rapidly changing economy.

Here’s an excerpt from the Union Square Revitalization Plan:

This planning tool, which has been successful in spurring the transformation of Assembly Square, is a necessary first step to providing both the transit and the transit-oriented development (TOD) that will revitalize the Union Square neighborhood.

Watch the GLX simulation video

Candidates were evaluated based on financial ability to complete the project, prior experience with large-scale projects “that incorporate commercial, residential and institutional uses in a complex dense urban setting,” and a proven track record of working on environmentally sensitive land, the BBJ reports.

“At US2, we see ourselves as not just developers, but as community partners and place makers,” said development director Greg Karczewski in a statement.

“Union Square is a truly unique destination that celebrates the artistic and ethnic strengths of its neighborhood and of Somerville as a whole. We promise that the future Union Square will maintain its edge and the authenticity that everybody loves today.”

Creative Commons/Flickr image