Business
The Copper Mill project, which includes a 26-story residential tower, reached agreements with both The Burren and Dragon Pizza.
Developers behind a major housing proposal in the heart of Davis Square are back with a revised plan — one that responds to community pushback by committing to re-home two neighborhood staples, The Burren and Dragon Pizza.
The announcement comes after strong community pushback during meetings last year, when residents voiced concerns about the fate of existing businesses and the impact on the music community.
The agreement came to light in a mid-December filing with MassHousing, which includes a letter from The Burren’s owner, Thomas McCarthy, expressing his support for the project.
The letter states that the developers, Copper Mill and McCarthy, worked to agree on a short-term extension of The Burren’s lease at its current location and a long-term lease to relocate The Burren to the new development upon completion.
“We believe that the new development will revitalize the Davis Square neighborhood — and we are pleased that The Burren has secured a long-term home for its future,” McCarthy wrote.
The Burren did not respond to a request for additional comment.
The development will also affect a strip of other businesses, including McKinnon’s Meat Market, Martsa on Elm, and Kung Fu Tea.
In a call with Boston.com, developer Andrew Flynn said he has confirmed only the re-homing of The Burren and Dragon Pizza in the new development, but is open to re-homing more.
The redevelopment project
In a mid-December filing with MassHousing, Copper Mill submitted new plans to redevelop a stretch of Elm Street in Davis Square with a 26-story residential tower and ground-floor commercial space.
The proposal calls for 502 units, including 20% reserved for households earning at or below 80% of the area median income.
Copper Mill, headquartered in Boston, has worked on the project for years and spent the past two years engaging with the city, residents, and stakeholders.
“There’s been a lot of headwinds, both locally and at a macro level, between tariffs, interest rates, inflation, construction costs, global economic uncertainty, and then down to localized dynamics,” Flynn said Monday. “We always wanted to lead a community-centric process.”
The site has been the focus of redevelopment efforts for years, including an earlier plan to build 250 apartments and lab space that never moved forward.
At past public meetings hosted by the developer and the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, residents raised concerns about the fate of existing businesses, the tower’s height and the shade it would cast, and the lack of parking in the proposal.
Flynn said the latest plans respond to that feedback by incorporating The Burren and Dragon Pizza into the project.
Other revisions include creating a pedestrian-focused pathway off the street, reducing the tower’s visibility from street level, relocating and downsizing the residential lobby from Elm Street to Grove Street, and placing loading docks inside the building to reduce street congestion. The team has also committed to using a 100% union construction workforce.
“We’ve really tried to listen to folks on some of the particularly acute issues, like coming to a deal with The Burren, making sure there’s spaces for small, artisan retail tenants, making sure that pedestrian experience is very thoughtfully designed and planned,” Flynn said.
Davis Square revitalization
Flynn said he hopes the project will help revitalize Davis Square, which has struggled with empty storefronts and unwanted activity.
“The dark storefronts and some of the other derivative activities going on in Davis Square on a day-to-day basis, I think, are only getting worse, not better,” Flynn said. “We really hope that people can come talk to us about how we can try to achieve what all seem to be shared goals.”
Copper Mill plans to meet with the Davis Square Neighborhood Council next week and to host a public meeting in the first half of February. The team is working to secure a venue big enough to accommodate attendees and support a hybrid format.
The developers have not yet submitted an application to Somerville.
“We hope, and we believe, that all the stakeholders are aligned to try to find a way to identify a path here in 2026 to get this project off the ground,” Flynn said.
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