As development in Union Square has increased, buoyed by the prospect of the Green Line Extension, Hub Comics owner Tim Finn wanted to ensure the future of his bookstore.

So he bought it.

“I want the subway to come to Union Square but no matter what, that will bring changes we don’t want,” Finn told the Journal in an interview after purchasing 19 Bow St., which houses Hub Comics on its first floor, for $2.2 million. “I like the idea of keeping Union Square the way it has been.”

Preventing displacement in Union Square has been a major concern for residents and businesses during the ongoing planning process with US2, the master developer for much of the square. While US2 and city officials are required to sign a public benefits agreement, activist coalitions like Union United have been calling for a community organization to be an equal partner in negotiating and signing that agreement.

And that’s what a group of residents and officials, organized by city-hired consultants, is calling for as well. An April 12 report summarizing months of meetings coordinated by the city-hired LOCUS real estate development group recommends creating a “place management organization” that will negotiate and manage benefits for years to come.

But whether that recommendation has the support of Mayor Joe Curtatone has yet to be seen.

“There’s not a clear difference between participation and negotiation,” Union United member Karen Narefsky told the Journal in an interview.

In a statement, mayoral spokesperson Denise Taylor said the priorities listed in the report would "inform the process going forward" and said she expected that place management organization to have a permanent role in the benefits process, but didn't give specifics on whether it would be part of negotiating or overseeing any benefits plan.

"That role will become more defined as the community discussions around a [place management organization] continue, but clearly we are moving toward a sustainable mechanism to keep the community involved permanently in facilitating an effective community benefits planning and implementation program for Union Square," Taylor wrote.

Advocacy and action

Narefsky, who is also a member of affordable housing developers Somerville Community Corporation, and several other Union United members met with Curtatone last week to advocate for a third party participating in a public benefits agreement. That agreement would lay out affordable housing and environmental requirements for US2 to follow as it develops Union Square, but also set conditions for city officials – and, if participating, the community group.

While Union United has taken steps to become a legally recognized group capable of performing the functions of a place management organization described in the LOCUS report, members said their main concern was having any independent third party group be part of the process. But though Curtatone was concerned about displacement, he was non-committal to pushing for that third party status, members told the Journal.

The several dozen participants in the LOCUS group meetings – including residents, business owners, Union United members and members of the Union Square Civic Advisory Coalition, a mayor-appointed group that has made recommendations for Union Square development over the past several years – have been discussing how to plan for major issues in the square like affordable housing, parking and sustainable development since December. A subgroup specifically focused on place management voted to recommend having an independent, non-appointed place management organization to negotiate and implement a public benefits agreement.

The April 12 report calls for further study of just how that group would be comprised, and members have examined options like community development corporations (similar to SCC), neighborhood associations or community land trusts. But the goals remain the same, including independence and having significant representation from vulnerable populations in the square.

Those populations, particularly immigrant and lower-income families, are already being squeezed out, Union United members told the Journal. Afruza Akther had to move to a different Union Square apartment a year and a half ago after her rent was raised and is facing another move in a few months. And her family is on a monthly Section 8 voucher for $1,400 plus utilities, which is nearly impossible to cover a two-bedroom in the square.

“My daughter goes to Argenziano, I don’t want her to go to a different environment,” Akther said. “Her grades will go down, she’ll lose her environment and friends, me too!”

Niran Khanal has lived in Union Square for nearly a decade, but is worried those days might be coming to an end. His landlord recently asked to take pictures of his apartment, which Khanal thinks could be a prelude to selling the building. The Green Line Extension has developers offering cash payments for property, he said.

“We support the GLX but are also dealing with displacement,” Khanal said. “We want the Green Line, but when the Green Line comes to Union, the rents go up.”

Preservation

Hub Comics opened at 19 Bow St. in 2008, with Finn buying the store in 2011. He had a good relationship with his landlord, who hadn’t shown any interest in selling to a developer.

But as development in the area increased, with houses on Somerville Avenue being replaced by “cube luxury condos,” Finn could picture a future where Hub Comics no longer had a home.

“I foresaw the building selling, my rent going up,” Finn told the Journal. “In the most traumatic scenario, several years from now, the building was selling, getting knocked down, replaced by condos.”

So to stabilize the store, and to a smaller extent the four one- and two-bedroom apartments upstairs, Finn bought the building at the beginning of April. He says he does not plan on raising rents in the apartments.

Friends have told Finn about how Harvard Square changed over the course of the past several decades to a more chain-store-friendly environment, and Finn hopes Union Square will avoid that fate.

“I think of Union Square as a vibrant place, I enjoy being a part of it,” he said. “I look forward to some small changes and hopefully not big dramatic ones.”