The master plan includes commercial, residential and retail components, as well as a 10-acre Central Park green space, and improvements to the existing infrastructure and transportation facilities. The project is expected to take up to 12 years to complete.

The commercial component will put approximately 2.2 million sf of space on the market, primarily office and laboratory. The retail portion is currently zoned for 150,000 sf, and will include restaurants and amenity retail to support the residential and office/lab uses. Boston-based Childs Bertman is the master planning architect for the project.

The residential portion will be comprised of approximately 2,700 housing units, including one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, lofts, condominiums, and townhouses, totaling three million sf. Phase I will include two condominium buildings and five acres of the planned park. The first buildings will be a 13-story, 236,000-sf tower with 230 units, and a 99-unit, eight-story structure. Construction of the buildings is expected to be completed by late 2006, and the units will range between $350,000 to $600,000 per unit.

The park will include multi-purpose trails, a pond and a pavilion. The pavilion, designed by Andres Mignucci Arctitectos of San Juan Puerto Rico, will be the centerpiece of the park, and will be able to accommodate art or museum exhibits.

US senator Edward M. Kennedy, US congressman Michael E. Capuano, and the mayors of Cambridge and Somerville were in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony. "We are creating a community where people can live, work and play, all near public transit, and within walking distance of commercial centers of Cambridge and Boston," said Spaulding & Slye Colliers VP and project director Lisa Serafin, in a statement released prior to the groundbreaking.