Millbrook Lofts Are Somerville’s Coolest New Luxury Condos

Courtesy Photo

Home to the shiny new shopping hub Assembly Row and a growing restaurant scene, the eastern half of Somerville is on a hot streak. So it’s no surprise to see luxury residences popping up here. One of the most recent additions, Millbrook Lofts, aptly reflects both the area’s creative community and its working-class roots.

Until 2013, the eight-story building was Millbrook Cold Storage, a warehouse for frozen foods first built in 1916. Now it’s home to 100 loft-style units with original exposed columns, high concrete ceilings, and open floor plans, plus private terraces for penthouses. Units range from 500-square-foot studios to 1,300-square-foot penthouses, with rents topping out at $5,799.

The top-floor roof deck offers panoramic city views—but for the real action, head down to the lobby, home to five residential artists’ lofts with amenities such as work sinks and large closets, in addition to shared spaces with stools and workbenches for easy confabs.

There’s also a media room outfitted with paintings, photography, and sculptures by the Brickbottom Artists Association’s Jerry Lainoff and Wally Gilbert, as well as by Millbrook’s own denizens. The artists’ lofts are priced based on income—the first of their kind to be offered specifically to eligible Somerville artists, made possible partially through the Somerville Arts Council.

“This is a unique, creative living environment,” says Berkeley Investment’s Eric Ekman, the project manager for Millbrook. “The aesthetic is very raw and very rough, with the columns and exposed concrete, which honors [the building’s] history.”

Millbrook still has units available for lease. And if you need decorating help? Just ask an artsy neighbor.

9 Medford St., Somerville, 617-209-4222, millbrooklofts.com.

BY THE NUMBERS
The Big Chill

1916
Year Millbrook Cold Storage was built.

10–12
Tons of seafood typically stashed in the facility.

$5 million
Value of the lobster tails stored there on a given day.

5
Local artists whose work is featured in the new residential building.

21
Pieces of unique art hanging at Millbrook.