USQ Hosts On-Site Learning Opportunity for Design Students
February 2023: In collaboration with design team member Ground Inc, USQ took advantage of a work holiday to tour Architectural Design students from Cushing Academy throughout the 50 Prospect building site. Their program exposes students to the most innovative and sustainable building projects in Boston, and we are thankful we could be their first stop.
USQ Launches Call for Artists for Public Art Piece
January 2023: USQ released a call for artists, developed in coordination with the Somerville Arts Council, to design and install a 450 square foot public art piece on the southern façade of the 10 Prospect project. The designated mural area was defined as a public art opportunity during the public review process for the building project and aims to enhance the public realm through the celebration of ‘place’, to promote a positive and welcoming environment.
USQ hosts WBUR’s special ‘live’ Radio Boston event from Union Square
December 2022: WBUR’s first live event since before the pandemic included representatives from the City of Somerville, Community Action Agency of Somerville, local businesses and US2. The forum discussed different perspectives on the Union Square Redevelopment project, its new commercial space and plan for a thousand new units of housing.
USQ's 2nd Annual Holiday Give
December 2022 - USQ's 2nd Annual Holiday Give to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition, which fights homelessness and food insecurity in our community.
USQ Promotes Bow Market’s Small Business Saturday
November 2022: For the second year in a row, USQ was a proud sponsor of Bow Market’s Small Business Saturday on November 29th. The event brought together over 60 small businesses from Bow Market and beyond. Consistent promotion of the event saw a record turnout of 5,500 shoppers. As part of its sponsorship, USQ hosted a hot chocolate and hot cocoa cart for the first 200 guests.
USQ Hosts a Hard-Hat Tour for Somerville High School Students
October 2022: As a continuation of in-class learning held in June, USQ scheduled a field trip ‘learning lab’ session to tour the 10 Prospect Street construction site. Somerville High School seniors enrolled in the Center for Career and Technical Education programmed observed the connection between design and construction with a hard-hat tour of the active project site led by USQ and Gilbane Building Company.
USQ Sponsors Somerville Homeless Coalition 5k Fun Run
October 2022: US2 sponsored Somerville Homeless Coalition’s 27th Annual 5k run through Somerville. Over 350 participants took to the street in support of SHC’s mission to raise awareness and support those experiencing homelessness, eviction and food insecurity in Somerville.
USQ Gives it all away at the 17th Annual Fluff Festival
September 2022: USQ Sponsored the Fluff Festival for the 9th year running and contributed to the year’s festivities by hosting a custom prize wheel. The ‘all-spins-win’ wheel offered festival goers the opportunity to win Union Square-centric prizes including gift cards to local businesses, Green Line Passes, tote bags, viewfinders, and more to elevate and promote activity and participation in what our great neighborhood has to offer.
USQ Delivers Coloring Books to Somerville Public Schools’ Program
August 2022: To celebrate National Coloring Book Day, US2 provided 100 coloring books to pre-k, kindergarten and first graders in East Somerville Public Schools’ Summer Adventure program. The ‘Somerville Scenes’ coloring book is a collaboration with local artist Dave Ortega who provided the illustrations.
USQ becomes inaugural ‘All Things Union’ Newsletter Sponsor
June 2022: Union Square Main Streets announces the inaugural annual partnership through their June Newsletter, a collaboration to help make their place keeping-focused economic empowerment work possible.
US2 Partners with Local Placemaking Experts to Elevate all-things ‘Uniquely Union’
May 2022 - Local Union Square small business, CultureHouse has a mission to “improve livability in local communities by transforming underutilized spaces into social infrastructure.” In partnering with US2, this mission meant the transformation of the pedestrian access route to and from the Union Square Station into a celebration of the square’s Past, Present and Future.
US2 Celebrates Transit Equity Milestone with Completion of New Public Elevator
April 2022 - US2 successfully opened for service a new MBTA Elevator to provide better accessibility to the MBTA service area south of the Station. To support the addition, US2 modified the design of the public plaza to accommodate the circulation element and provided an accompanying stair. To commemorate the event, US2 invited members of the Union Square Neighborhood Council to be the new elevator’s first riders.
US2 delivers on commitments to help bring Union Square Station to Fruition
March 2022 - With a vision for growing Union Square into an accessible, vibrant and transit-oriented neighborhood, US2 completed improvements that directly supported the new MBTA Green Line Station’s celebrated opening.
US2 installed a 290,000-gallon subsurface stormwater tank, a critical component of our project’s long-term resiliency efforts.
February 2022 - This enormous retention tank will capture the stormwater and control its rate of release to the City’s storm sewer. This controlled release will improve local climate resilience by acting as a mitigant against area flooding. In the future, the ground above will be improved as a neighborhood park.
US2 contributes an additional $155,000 in funding to support Community Benefits this month, bringing total contributions to date to $622,000
January 2022 - The new CBA payment is associated with the building permit for the D2.1 (10 Prospect Street). With this payment, US2 has officially made a total of $622,000 in community benefits contributions payments. US2 is committed to providing community benefits for the Union Square neighborhood, and has agreed to contribute more than $3.6 million in community benefits funds over the course of project implementation. Contributions will be made to this fund as building permits and certificates of occupancy are achieved for each building.
USQ’s Holiday Give Delivers Results: $5,400 in donations and over 2,300 food & toiletry items provided to the Somerville Homeless Coalition
December 2021 - US2 hosted its first annual USQ Holiday Give Event in December 2021. In this collaboration of Union Square Businesses, $5,400 and 2,300 food and toiletry items were donated to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. Nine organizations participated by collecting donations over a two-week period. Many thanks are due to those who made it happen: @greentownlabs, @bow.market, @somernova, @somervillemediacenter, @somervillecommunity, Right Hand Robotics, @somervillecity, @gilbanebuilding, Cranshaw Construction.
USQ becomes a “Learning Lab” for Tufts students looking to learn about the industry
December 2021 - Tufts University students get a behind-the-scenes look at the USQ project during a December site visit. US2, Gilbane and Keller hosted Dr. Lucy Jen and structural engineering students.
USQ's 1st Annual Holiday Give
December 2021 - We're excited to announce a new event that we’ve planned this holiday season: USQ's 1st Annual Holiday Give to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition, which fights homelessness and food insecurity in our community.
USQ Sponsors Union Square Main Streets Holiday Stroll
December 2021 - US2 continued its commitment to supporting Union Square local businesses by sponsoring USMS’s seventh annual Holiday Stroll. This is the fifth year USQ has been involved in the event. Dozens of locally-owned businesses lined the streets with local art, food, and stocking stuffers for residents to purchase for the holiday season.
USQ + Bow Market Collaborate to Highlight Small Businesses at Small Business Saturday event
November 2021 - Somerville has no shortage of unique and interesting small businesses, and USQ wanted to play its part in highlighting what these groups have to offer. Last November, USQ teamed up with Bow Market for their Small Business Saturday Event. Somerville residents got to shop locally for their holiday gifts at the more than 60 small businesses participating in the event. This included over 30 local vendors and the over 20 amazing businesses that already called Bow Market home! USQ also had a branded cart at the event in which attendees had the chance to win $250 worth of gifts personally curated by Bow!