At 260 Elm Street, the large corner window that used to hold a Starbucks now holds paintings and photographs. The Diamond Factory, a volunteer-run pop-up gallery, moved into the space around the Honk! festival in early October. It is showing work by ten artists, including Resa Blatman, Greer Muldowney, Andrew Neumann and Michael Talbot. Susan Berstler, who runs the Nave Gallery in Teele Square, curates it in partnership with the City's Arts & Culture Division.
The gallery is a welcome sight. It also shows how Davis Square's empty storefronts get filled. Three of the square's best-known dark windows sit within a short walk of each other, and businesses are interested in all of them. What sets the pace at each address is the building: a stalled redevelopment at one, a failed sale at another, and a long-empty food space with no obstacles at the third.
The former Starbucks can only take a tenant who is willing to leave
The Diamond Factory got 260 Elm because nobody can sign a long lease there right now. The property belongs to the developer Asana. Asana planned a 120,000-square-foot redevelopment, focused on lab space, called 7th Spoke. When demand for lab space cooled, the project stalled, but by then some businesses had already moved out. In a January 2024 Cambridge Day report, 7th Spoke was on hold with no estimate for when construction would start. The same report described the plaza as a place where Sugidama, a doctor's office and a pawn shop had once operated.
The Cambridge Somerville Independent reported that the gallery runs on a short-term lease the city signed with Asana. The City's announcement said the gallery would run for about three to four months. The Independent's October update said it would be open through December.
Mayor Jake Wilson summed up the city's thinking in that same announcement:
"Empty storefronts are a challenge for our commercial areas, but they're also an opportunity to get creative, and Somerville has no shortage of people ready to do that."
The name comes from We Create Diamonds, a show Michael Talbot curated at the Nave Gallery this spring. It plays on the idea that art, like diamonds, forms under pressure. The next public event is Jazz Sunday featuring Unity Village on Sunday, November 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and tips are appreciated, according to the SomArt listing.
The old Posto space had nothing in its way
A block away, 187 Elm Street shows how quickly a space can turn over once the building isn't the obstacle. Yafa Bakery & Café, known for its Mediterranean pastry, is taking over the former Posto restaurant there for a second location. Founder Abdullah Awad says the original shop at 594 Somerville Avenue, open since June 2022, will keep operating.
The address has been a food spot for decades. It was Steve's, the ice cream shop where Steve Herrell invented the candy mix-in in 1973. After that it was a Carberry's Bakery and Coffee House, then O'Naturals, Boloco and The Green Tomato. Posto served pizza there for 13 years before moving to Assembly Square in November 2024. That left the space empty for about 1.8 years by the time the Independent reported Yafa's plans in September.
That's a long gap for a corner with that history, but nothing was stalled. The space was just waiting for the right operator. Elaine Almquist, president of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, told the Independent, "A big complaint is that we'd love to see our empty storefronts filled, so it's very exciting." Yafa staff confirmed in late September that the expansion was still going ahead.
The Rosebud came down to who owns the building
The Rosebud at 381 Summer Street is the clearest case of a building deciding what happens next. The diner opened in 1941 and spent decades under the Nichols family. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Joe Cassinelli's Alpine Restaurant Group and chef John Delpha refreshed it after buying it in 2013. In 2023 it sold for $800,000 and reopened under Bindaas Concepts, serving an Indian fusion take on diner food.
The diner has been closed since mid-May. In July, the operator told the Licensing Commission he was negotiating to buy the building and could reopen within weeks if the deal went through. It didn't. As the Independent reported, the operator canceled the lease and transferred the liquor license. At the Commission's October 20 meeting, commissioners said they considered the Rosebud closed.
So the next chapter is up to the building's owner. In the Independent's words, the license surrender frees "the historic property for the next restaurateur." A person familiar with the situation told the paper there could be movement on a revival as soon as November.
Three windows, three different situations
| Address | Was | Now | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| 260 Elm St. | Starbucks | The Diamond Factory pop-up gallery | Short-term city lease while Asana's 7th Spoke stays stalled |
| 187 Elm St. | Posto | Planned second Yafa Bakery & Café | Yafa expanding into a longtime food space |
| 381 Summer St. | The Rosebud | Dark since May | Back with the owner after a failed sale |
The site tied to a stalled redevelopment has a gallery with an end date. The longtime food space with no complications is going to a Somerville bakery opening its second shop. The diner whose sale fell through is back in its owner's hands.
The newest arrival isn't a storefront at all
The one Davis Square opening with a target date is going into a building that was never retail. Curiosity Brewing plans to turn a former auto body shop at 49 Day Street, vacant for years, into an all-day café and brewery. It will serve coffee and snacks during the day and hazy New England IPAs at night, with an opening targeted for late spring 2027, Boston.com reported in September.
Nick DeFae, the person behind the brewery, is a data scientist and award-winning homebrewer from Vermont who has lived in Somerville for 15 years. He told Boston.com the opportunity is that Davis Square has "no brewery within walking distance."
What's happening in the square while the windows wait
The theater, the gallery and the long-running businesses are still drawing people to Davis this month. Here is what's on the calendar from publish day through Thanksgiving week:
- Saturday, November 7: Le Vent du Nord at the Somerville Theatre.
- Sunday, November 8, 3 to 5 p.m.: Jazz Sunday featuring Unity Village at The Diamond Factory, 260 Elm Street, free with tips appreciated.
- Wednesday, November 11: Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam at the Somerville Theatre.
- Thursday, November 19: John Scofield's "Electrospective" at the Somerville Theatre.
- Saturday, November 21: The Pineapple Thief at the Somerville Theatre.
After that, the Somerville Theatre calendar lists The Slutcracker on multiple dates from December 4 through December 27. That's the same stretch The Diamond Factory is expected to stay open at 260 Elm.
If you own on one of the streets around the square, what goes into these storefronts affects your daily routine as much as any sale price. If you'd like to know how changes like these are showing up in Somerville home values near Davis Square, The Boston Home Team is happy to walk through it with you. Request a free neighborhood market analysis.
