Academic Building @ Suffolk U | 20 Somerset Street | Beacon Hill

unbelievable

It will be interesting to see whether the press really picks up on this issue. Never mind that the Menino administration directed universities to build more housing, never mind that the BRA told Suffolk that they would support this project, the most ridiculous part of this story is that the fickle Menino administration just cost the Commonwealth $15 million. Suffolk was poised to pay handsomely for that building. (See the Beacon Hill Times article from last week) That deal was contingent on the university building beyond the existing building envelope. Whomever comes in after Suffolk will be sure to build within the existing FAR. That means that the State will lose out on millions in revenue. Moreover, what message does this send to other colleges in the area? This is a typical move by a weak mayor who is unfit to lead this city. Menino might mean well, but this is inexcusable.
 
Mark Maloney said:
"We decided it would not be good for Suffolk University."
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...so we decided to protect them from themselves.
 
The Boston Globe said:
Suffolk University drops Beacon Hill dormitory plan, seeks new site

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | December 28, 2006

Bowing to the city's opposition to its plans, Suffolk University is giving up on the idea of putting a new dormitory tower on a Beacon Hill site.

But the university wants to work with Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Boston Redevelopment Authority to find a suitable new location as quickly as possible, said John A. Nucci, vice president for government and community affairs.

"It is important to identify a site and move forward as quickly as possible," Nucci said yesterday. "Student housing is a very important need for Suffolk and, more importantly, for the city."

BRA director Mark Maloney told Nucci Tuesday that the city was reversing its position and would oppose Suffolk's plans to house students at the site of a former Metropolitan District Commission building on Somerset Street. Outcry from the Beacon Hill community influenced the city's decision.

Instead of expressing disappointment, Nucci said Suffolk was focused on moving forward. "Suffolk wants to peacefully coexist with our neighbors," Nucci said.

Suffolk will spend the next few weeks considering other possible uses for the Somerset Street location that would be more palatable to neighbors.

Suffolk currently houses 765 students, 17 percent of its undergraduate population, in two buildings. Its goal is to eventually house about 2,500 students. Suffolk initially sought 800 beds for the failed proposal and later downsized the plans to 550 beds.

Maloney said the city looks forward to working with Suffolk on other options. Downtown Crossing and the Ladder District have worked well in the past for Suffolk and Emerson, he said, but officials wouldn't limit the university to those neighborhoods.

Suffolk is working on a revision to its institutional master plan, a process mandated by the city that entails community involvement. Maloney suggested that the city and the neighbors may not be in as much of a hurry as Suffolk.

"Interactive dialogue can be hard, and it's time-consuming, but it pays off," he said. "We have to make sure we do this with the community, and they need a breather."

Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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It's probably better this way in the long run, there is no reason that prime real estate such as this should be squandered on Suffolk students. I think we could definitely see a condo proposal here that would make the muster of the neighbors. If I had the threat of a bunch of college students moving in next to me, I would fight it, especially if I was paying some of the highest residential taxes in the city.
 
Somerset Street is not a residential area, so there are no neighbors. Also, doesn't Suffolk own this property now? They seem to already be making another plan for it.
 
The Boston Globe said:
Mayor has a proposal for a Suffolk campus

By Marcella Bombardieri and James Vaznis, Globe Staff | December 31, 2006

Shortly after city officials nixed Suffolk University's plans to build a dormitory tower on Beacon Hill, Mayor Thomas M. Menino offered a radical alternative. Suffolk could consider moving its campus or a good chunk of it into the Hurley building, state offices at the corner of Cambridge and Staniford streets near Government Center.

"It would be like Emerson College -- consolidate," Menino said in an interview last week, referring to Emerson's move in recent years from the Back Bay to the Theater District.

Designed in the late 1960s in the same Brutalist architectural style as City Hall, the state services complex made up of the Hurley and Lindemann buildings was dubbed "an orgy in concrete." It was widely seen as a cold, inhospitable environment for the offices and mental health facility it housed.

While it's still in use and not for sale at the moment, the state has been exploring ways to get rid of the complex for years, said urban designer Alex Krieger.

It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get Suffolk to move in. In the late 1980s, the legendary urban planner Edward Logue had a plan that included Suffolk taking over the buildings and turning the university's Beacon Hill properties into luxury housing. Suffolk didn't bite.

Suffolk officials could not be reached for comment. Boston officials, who are also considering selling City Hall Plaza and building a new City Hall on the South Boston waterfront, declined to elaborate on how they imagined Suffolk making use of the complex.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. of the Globe staff contributed to this column. Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with the Globe's Ask the Teacher feature, a column by an area teacher.

E-mail tips to campus@globe.com.
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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If they put lots of money into landscaping and master planning, they'd have the makings of a mighty impressive campus --right in the middle of things.
 
Yeah right.

I'm sure that concrete fortress would look a lot more enticing in their promotional literature than comely Beacon Hill.

Suffolk U. would have to be clinically retarded to accept this offer. Especially after they've spent a few hundred million to build a physically credible "campus".
 
briv said:
Suffolk U. would have to be clinically retarded to accept this offer.
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Well, Suffolk did try to build a dorm tower on Beacon Hill so while they may not be clinically retarded they might be considered just a little bit slow.
 
Lol. Like I've said elsewhere, Berklee is using Suffolk's dealings with the community as the textbook example of how NOT to go about expanding the campus.
 
Beacon Hill

While the administrators at Suffolk might not be the brightest in the world, this development is not part of Beacon Hill. And while Suffolk may have made errors in the past, they did reach out to the community during this process. The community had made up its mind and I am convinced that nothing Suffolk could have done would have change their conviction.

To recap: Suffolk is not expanding enrollment. Suffolk was simply trying to house a greater portion of their existing student body in dormitory housing- as the city requested. The driving force behind the city request has always been to take students OUT of the neighborhoods by housing a greater number in university housing. This project got torpedoed because the Menino administration didn't have the courage to stand behind its own policy.

Students aren't going to disappear from Beacon Hill just because this proposal was shot down. By my sights there will be more on the Hill than there would otherwise be. And if Suffolk miraculously finds another site to build a dorm that is farther removed from the campus center, students will have a greater incentive to live closer to where classes are held: on Beacon Hill.
 
suffolk enrollment

but suffolk IS significantly expanding their enrollment and they are revising their IMP to reflect their new project numbers. even with the proposed new dorm, they were going to be housing a lower percentage of students on campus then they do currently.
 
Suffolk Numbers

Whatever changes to enrollment that may have occurred recently have nothing to do with this project. There are no plans to increase enrollment size and any changes to enrollment occurred well before the dorm plan was even on the drawing board. If you have information to the contrary I would love to see the evidence.
 
but Suffolk IS significantly expanding their enrollment and they are revising their IMP to reflect their new project numbers.

Is this such a bad thing, a university expanding it's enrollment? I would suggest that instead of working against Suffolk, the city of Boston should instead encourage this growth. The Boston/Cambridge area benefits to the tune of billions spent annually by area colleges and universities in terms of construction, research, the thousands of employees, and the students themselves. The vibrancy of the city is directly due to the thousands and thousands of college students who live in the area attending school. Granted, the city looses tax revenues due to property losses and kids get rowdy but the gain in other areas I would guess more than offsets this. Neighborhoods should always be taken into account when growth occurs but considering the economic benefits these schools bring, the city government should show more support for it's universities and colleges. Seriously, what was the reason that these Beacon Hill residents were so adamantly opposed to this dorm being built? Is the site (I'm not familiar with this area) so close to their homes that residents would have been directly impacted?
 
This site isn't part of the Beacon Hill residential neighborhood at all.
 
It is close enough and seriously, we're talking about Suffolk, this isn't some grand research institution that we should strive to please at every turn. If this were Harvard or BU, I would probably say otherwise, but as long as we're talking about nothing more than a mediocre private college that has a reputable local law school, I would rather wait for something better.
 
suffolk

atlantaden made an excellent point...the issue has little to do with the academic reputation of the institution. Universities provide jobs. Lots of them. They make a huge impact on the local economy. And while Suffolk is not currently a prestigious school, Boston College wasn't prestigious 30 years ago either. With good planning, good facilities, and a good location a university's reputation can improve. Look at Northeastern or Emerson. Either way, the more students Boston has, the more: professors, construction jobs, staffing positions, parents visiting and dropping money at hotels and restaurants, and student spending supporting local business. Universities are hugely beneficial to the Boston area and their needs should be accommodated.
 
Re: suffolk

sidewalks said:
atlantaden made an excellent point...the issue has little to do with the academic reputation of the institution. Universities provide jobs. Lots of them. They make a huge impact on the local economy. And while Suffolk is not currently a prestigious school, Boston College wasn't prestigious 30 years ago either. With good planning, good facilities, and a good location a university's reputation can improve. Look at Northeastern or Emerson. Either way, the more students Boston has, the more: professors, construction jobs, staffing positions, parents visiting and dropping money at hotels and restaurants, and student spending supporting local business. Universities are hugely beneficial to the Boston area and their needs should be accommodated.
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Exactly.

Pretty much every single dollar that colleges spend is spent in the local economy. Unlike John Hancock, Gillette, Bank of America, etc, none of our colleges are going anywhere. They will always stay here. 32% of Suffolk students are from out of state. With about 7000 undergrads and graduate students, this means that there are about 2250 out of state students in attendance. Given the cost of attending Suffolk, that means that about $89 million flows into our local economy from out of state every year - not even counting all the money that they will spend on their own for food, beer, etc. This is a large chunk of what keeps our economy going, and this whole anti-expansion attitude makes no sense.
 
Re: suffolk

DudeUrSistersHot said:
Unlike John Hancock, Gillette, Bank of America, etc, none of our colleges are going anywhere. They will always stay here.
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Almost true, but I'll nitpick a bit anyway. Emerson College almost moved to Lawrence. Boston State College was merged out of existence. The Art Institute of Boston merged into Lesley and will soon move from Boston to Cambridge. Newton College of the Sacred Heart merged into Boston College. Bradford College in Haverhill closed up shop a few years ago.
 
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