The newest parking in downtown Somerville is also the only parking that charges you every day of the week. The Edge II deck behind the apartments on West Main Street opened in October with 229 public spaces. It charges on Sundays, Saturdays and the days around Thanksgiving, whatever the borough lots across the street are doing. Those borough lots have been free on Sundays all year. Last season they were also free on every Saturday from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.
That makes this the first holiday season downtown where you have to pick a parking spot by the calendar. A Friday-night tree lighting, a Saturday shopping day and a Sunday brunch each point to a different spot.
What the Edge II deck charges, and why it plays by different rules
The Borough of Somerville and developer Jack Morris built the deck together as a public-private partnership. The borough doesn't run it, so its rates and rules don't follow the municipal lots, TAPinto Somerville reported. The posted terms:
- Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Payment enforced every day, including Sundays
- Credit card only
- Up to 3 hours: $4
- Up to 5 hours: $8
- Up to 24 hours: $12
Getting in takes a little practice. The public entrance is on South Davenport Street, across from ShopRite, through the driveway the deck shares with Chase Bank. For GPS, the borough says to use the bank's address, 6 South Davenport Street. The South Doughty Street entrance is for residents of The Edge at Main only. Public parkers can't use it.
Compare that with the street. Under Somerville's borough code, the three-hour meter zones cost $1 an hour. Meters are enforced Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A full three hours at a Main Street meter on a weekday costs $3, and the deck charges $4 for the same stay. Once you need more than three hours, the meter is no longer an option, and the deck's $8 five-hour rate starts to make sense. A few designated spaces on Division Street have a much lower rate in the code, 1 cent per 12 minutes.
The free days are the busy days
The borough's free days line up with the season's biggest crowds. The code makes streets and Lots 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 free on Sundays. Lot 7 is also free on Saturdays all year. The borough's 2025 holiday schedule went further. It made every municipal lot except Lot 8 free on Saturdays from Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day, and it made all municipal lots and streets free on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
The borough hasn't announced its 2026 holiday schedule yet. The Saturday column below shows how last season worked, and the borough's parking page is the place to check once this year's notice is out.
| When you're downtown | Street meters | Municipal Lots 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 | Edge II deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. | $1/hour, 3-hour limit | Paid | $4 up to 3 hours |
| Weekday after 7 p.m. | Not enforced | Code conflicts, may run to 8 p.m. | Paid |
| Saturdays, Thanksgiving to New Year's | Paid, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Free in 2025, except Lot 8 | Paid |
| Sundays | Free | Free | Paid |
| Christmas Day, New Year's Day | Free in 2025 | Free in 2025 | Paid, per posted daily enforcement |
The code itself doesn't agree on lot rates or hours. One section sets all five lots at 50 cents an hour, with enforcement ending at 7 p.m. A separate off-street parking article lists Lots 1, 2 and 7 at 75 cents and Lots 4 and 6 at $1. It also has Lots 1, 2, 4 and 6 metered until 8 p.m., and Lot 7 until 6 p.m. on weekdays. The signs at each lot are the final word. For a short visit of three hours or less, any of those lot rates comes in under the deck's $4 minimum.
Small Business Saturday lands on the right side of the calendar
The Downtown Somerville Alliance has scheduled Small Business Saturday for November 28, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day includes live holiday music, free gift wrapping, bingo and raffles, plus a guide to deals at more than 50 downtown businesses.
November 28 is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If the borough repeats its 2025 schedule, the municipal lots will be free that day while the Main Street meters keep charging until 7 p.m. A six-hour shopping day is also too long for a three-hour meter. That leaves two choices, a municipal lot at no cost or the deck at $12 for anything past five hours. The Alliance's event page asks visitors to use designated public parking and follow posted restrictions.
The Jubilee is on a Friday, and that changes the math
The Downtown Somerville Holiday Jubilee runs Friday, December 4, from 5 to 9 p.m. Entertainment is on a Division Street stage, the downtown tree lighting is at 7 p.m., and trolleys run up and down Main Street. Performers listed include the Sharpe Family Singers, Black Belt World, Studio L Bridgewater Dance, East Coast Dance Arts and the Somerville Dad Band, along with local school and community groups. Visit Somerset's calendar shows a shorter end time, so check with the organizers if you're planning around the last hour.
The holiday free-Saturday rule doesn't cover a Friday. Street meters are enforced until 7 p.m., and the tree lighting is at 7. Lots may stay paid until 8 p.m. under the off-street article, so check the posted hours. If you arrive at 5 and park at a Main Street meter, you pay for two hours, which comes to $2 at the three-hour-zone rate. Anyone who arrives after 7, after the tree lighting, parks at a borough meter for free. The deck charges either way, starting at $4.
The deck is a fair trade for one kind of Jubilee night, when you want a spot you can count on close to West Main Street and plan to stay past the lighting. Its entrance is on South Davenport, a short walk from the Division Street stage area, and it never runs out of time on you.
What's different on Main Street since last December
Last year's Jubilee crowd will notice a few changes on the street.
At 46 East Main Street, Salted Lime set Friday, October 30, as its last day of service. The modern Latin restaurant had opened in December 2018. Patch reported that owner Mark Farro sold the business, and that he said of the new owners, "it sounds like they have something fun and exciting planned for the community." The new restaurant hasn't been named, and no opening date has been announced.
West Main Street, the end closest to the new deck, has two new arrivals. MilkShake Factory, a dessert shop at 189 West Main Street, had a soft opening at the end of April, according to Patch. StretchLab opened a studio at 165 West Main Street and held a grand-opening ribbon cutting, TAPinto Somerville reported in September. On a paid weekday, a quick milkshake run fits easily on a street meter. If you're staying a while, the deck's $4 three-hour block is right behind the same stretch of West Main.
Down the street, Somerville's Middlemist Meadery has expanded its bottled mead beyond the taproom. In a sponsored TAPinto feature, the meadery said its bottles are now in local bars and liquor stores, with direct shipping to 40 states.
A PowWow on November 14, and an app on the way
Before the holiday rush, St. John's Episcopal Church in Somerville is hosting an intertribal PowWow on Saturday, November 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Grand Entry is at noon. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under 12, per TAPinto Somerville. That's a regular Saturday under the code, two weeks before Thanksgiving, so meters and Lots 1, 2, 4 and 6 are enforced. Lot 7 is free.
Paying at the meter may change soon too. At its September 8, 2026 meeting, the Borough Council voted on a resolution awarding ParkMobile by Arrive a contract for a mobile parking payment system. No launch date has been announced. Until the borough says it's live, assume the curb works the way it always has, and keep a credit card in the car for the deck, which takes nothing else.
If you'd rather skip parking, NJ Transit's Somerville Station on the Raritan Valley Line sits on Urban Drive at the foot of Division Street, the same street as the Jubilee stage. Parking next to the station is paid on evenings and weekends, so the train helps most if you can get to the station without driving.
At Jersey Living Homes, we track details like this for every Somerset County town we serve, from new parking decks to which Main Street storefronts are about to change hands. If you're curious how changes like the Edge II project are affecting downtown Somerville and the streets around it, schedule a free consultation with Rebecca. We'll talk through what's changing near you.
