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Kendall Square could be getting some little-box stores

Cambridge Day reports:

A marketplace made of cheap, repurposed shipping containers could be on the way to Kendall Square, enlivening the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority’s tiny so-called Parcel 6 until a bigger, more permanent plan comes along.

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Comments

Shipping containers are one of the few things legally allowed to be coated with heavily leaded paint to survive extreme weather and salty environments. NOT THE BEST THING TO LIVE IN OR RUN A STORE OUT OF!

Unless the developer abates the containers prior to creative reuse they will be creating a mini-superfund site in Cambridge.

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Everything in Massachusetts built before the 70s was covered in lead paint. It's actually not a big deal -- otherwise every quaint little white Congregational church would be a superfund site. I think the MIT kids are old enough we don't have to worry about them eating chips of paint that peel off the side, so you can calm down.

I looked into shipping containers for housing a while back, and the companies that sell them for architectural purposes don't just drop a used container at your door. The containers are sandblasted and repainted first anyway.

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Will they be made of ticky-tacky?

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This has been tried in two areas in Brooklyn, and I think some of it was sponsored by, or at least marketed by, Etsy. Both pop-up markets were successful ways of getting activity onto cleared sites ahead of large construction projects. Unfortunately, for reasons that had nothing to do with the merchants themselves, the projects failed due to mismanagement by the marketplaces' organizers.

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I visited one in Brooklyn and it clearly was a draw for that neighborhood. It was fun and I think it's a great idea for Kendall Square if they get the right sellers.

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