Berklee Expansion Plans | Back Bay

Meg Cohen has been all over the newspapers during the past several weeks ... you think she's running for something, either private industry or maybe next fall?
 
It's a logical time in her career to move on. Still, I'd be surprised.

She is a very fair person, and maybe she's just tired of the loud, self-important, droning voices shouting down everyone they don't agree with (the vocal minority versus the silent majority). She's in the perfect position, obviously, to be a mouthpiece, and I know some major players in town supported her recent comments.

If she does run for something, I'd vote for her.
 
briv said:
Berklee, and every other college in this city, should be encouraged to use their existing property in the absolute most efficient manner possible, so not to necessitate further property acquisitions that only serve to erode the city's tax base. This means building taller and denser. Opposing height here will only increase the likelihood that this entire area will eventually be completely gobbled up by Berklee's outward sprawl.
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You are SO RIGHT. Why not leave other parcels to other developers so we can maximize the tax return?
 
I'm supportive of this tower with a few assumptions:

1. They will sell their dorm building on Comm Ave to a private developer.
2. There will be a large setback from Mass Ave so that you're not weaving kids on smoke breaks as you walk down Mass Ave (it sounds like there will be since they say cafe)
 
During a conversation I had w/a guy from facilities cost analysis here at BU, I was told that the university actually did pay real-estate taxes. I assumed they paid taxes on space that they leased out, but other than that I thought they were exempt.
Does anybody know if/how university owned real-estate is actually taxed?
 
A non-profit pays property taxes on property that isn't used to further the non-profit's purposes. For instance, if a church or a university owns a hotel, that's taxable. If they later convert the hotel to a dormitory or a nunnery, no more property tax.
 
Was this changed recently?

Only as of september has BU started charging tax on food (subway, starbucks etc). Previously, the register person had to opt-in to a tax transaction. Now they have to opt out when shown an ID.
 
No. They probably got caught scamming. Emerson pays property tax on those portions of its buildings that have commercial ventures in them.
 
An article in the Boston Courant 2 weeks ago Berklee said that they will be presenting new plans that will include the facades as part of the 29 story building.
 
^^^ In some cities, e.g., Boston and Cambridge, universities make payments in lieu of taxes for university-owned property that is used for non-profit purposes. PILOT or PILT monies are often calculated to reflect the value of city services provided; e.g., fire department. The amount for a large university could be in the several millions of dollars. I believe MIT pays Cambridge several tens of millions of dollars annually in real property taxes and PILOT.
 
stellarfun said:
^^^ In some cities, e.g., Boston and Cambridge, universities make payments in lieu of taxes for university-owned property that is used for non-profit purposes. PILOT or PILT monies are often calculated to reflect the value of city services provided; e.g., fire department. The amount for a large university could be in the several millions of dollars. I believe MIT pays Cambridge several tens of millions of dollars annually in real property taxes and PILOT.
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Not to go off topic, but does Northeastern's $30,571 really cover the cost of city services? That is not a typo, either. The PILOT program is broken and needs to be fixed.

Source: Boston Globe on 12/10/2008.
 
Someone brought this up in another thread, but what city services does the university use?

I might be wrong, but aren't trash collection and security both privately run? Also, i think the university must pay a fine every time a fire alarm is pulled.

Am i missing a service? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be wise, i am genuinely asking.

I agree that PILOT is broken (especially given the cost of education), but these universities bring in exponentially more of an economic factor than paying property taxes.
 
palindrome said:
Someone brought this up in another thread, but what city services does the university use?

I might be wrong, but aren't trash collection and security both privately run? Also, i think the university must pay a fine every time a fire alarm is pulled.

Am i missing a service? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be wise, i am genuinely asking.

I agree that PILOT is broken (especially given the cost of education), but these universities bring in exponentially more of an economic factor than paying property taxes.
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Dont forget that the universities pay a ridiculous amount for every call box per year, even though they all have their own police forces
 
I imagine those police forces have their own positive externalities. It's potentially better to have more eyes on the lookout for crime/suspicious activity, even if they can't engage to a certain degree.
 
Drunk BU students getting hit by trains and cars cost the city a lot.....There are a lot of externality expenses associated by having a colleges in the city, but my gut says its net revenue positive (professors living in the city, students paying sales tax, students employed and paying state income tax, etc.)

Getting back to Berklee, has there been a full high-quality rendering released on th 29 story design? Anyword if they will be asked to sell their dorm building on Comm Ave.?

Which building would be replaced? Is it the performance building that always has about 1,000 kids smoking and blocking the sidewalk along Mass Ave? I hope whatever the replacement is, is required to have a wider setback than what currently exists. The building I mentioned and Best Buy/Hynes/360 Newbury both make trying to traverse this part of Mass Ave an annoying experience due to the narrow setbacks combined with bus stops and general loitering.
 
atlrvr said:
Drunk BU students getting hit by trains and cars cost the city a lot.....There are a lot of externality expenses associated by having a colleges in the city, but my gut says its net revenue positive (professors living in the city, students paying sales tax, students employed and paying state income tax, etc.)

Getting back to Berklee, has there been a full high-quality rendering released on th 29 story design? Anyword if they will be asked to sell their dorm building on Comm Ave.?

Which building would be replaced? Is it the performance building that always has about 1,000 kids smoking and blocking the sidewalk along Mass Ave? I hope whatever the replacement is, is required to have a wider setback than what currently exists. The building I mentioned and Best Buy/Hynes/360 Newbury both make trying to traverse this part of Mass Ave an annoying experience due to the narrow setbacks combined with bus stops and general loitering.
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Drunk students in general cost the city a lot of money, and not all of incidents requiring city services occur on campus.

Berklee has repeatedly said they don't have an architect, just massing concepts.

Why would they be asked to sell a dorm? I understand the point is to house more students per the Mayor's directive, not duplicate dormitory beds in a different, more expensive location so as to provide the neighbors with more housing stock. This is a concept Councillor Ross and others don't seem to understand (and is another example of the sins of a few----Northeastern, mostly----punishing the many. Community members rant at Berklee for the transgressions of Northeastern University and its students. Why? How will Berklee, selling the building to a developer who will simply provide additional luxury condos with 4 basement "affordable" units help the housing stock in the Back Bay/Fenway area?)

How would a wider setback be accomplished when the historical preservation society is demanding Berklee preserve the existing facades? Confused.

I do agree that the bus stops are annoying. There is one every few hundred feet in this stretch. It worsens the #1 bus "herd" issue.

The general loitering though? What a shame when a city is healthy enough that people wish to....... loiter?
 
Do NEU students have a reputation that I don't know of before I apply?
 
I don't understand all the sh*T colleges get in this town. Berklee of all places adds to a unique boston feel. Great musicians go in and out and play in the area. Berklee's cafe 939 is a really good place to see a good show. People always seem to harp on the fact that college kids stay out late at bars, (because god forbid a city have noise) and then the same people say they wish boston had more 24 hour activity.

(this is coming from a BC student that would love to burn down lake street, so I admit college bias)
 
I tried to respond to the loitering issue politely, but I erased that as it didn't capture the problem properly. Kids acting like jackasses with no regard to other pedestrians isn't an attribute of a healthy city. When you have small children and walk through the area daily, you tend to get defensive of your kids well being, and if I have to navigate 30 kids with dangling cigarettes who aren't paying attention to my short companion, or the inevitable group of 3 or 4 guys jumping on each others back and knocking into other pedestrians, then I lose compassion for my fellow sidewalk users. I have no issue with these activities, rather that they chose the miserable narrow setback to "loiter" in combined with the #1 bus stop and the fact that people are constantly loading/unloading piles of band gear there.

The existing facade building is fine, but I would trade it (and the Gehry building) for an additional 8' of sidewalk.

As far as their Comm Ave dorm, I would be amenable to allowing additional height in the proposed tower in exchange for them selling their "lime/brownstone" dorm. It's not that the students there create any major issues (certainly less than drunk Red Sox fans walking down Comm Ave), but rather I agree with the concept that student housing should be centralized. It is easier to manage (both the students and the infrastructure) and concentrates their socializing separate from the permanent residents. We're talking about a matter of 3 blocks here, not full-on segregation. Finally, if I'm that poor kid that lugged his accoustic stand-up bass back and forth every day, I'd be pretty stoked to live closer to the academic buildings.

I'll also throw in the weak argument that it returns what could be a highly valued building back to the tax-rolls, and the fact that this was an residential apartment building long before Berklee existed, so returning it to something more similar to its original use is not exactly disturbing the integrity of a neighborhood.

Really, it comes down to, what exactly is the point of the student dorm tower if not to pull more students on campus?
 
If the sidewalk is too narrow, because people are queueing in front of a theatre, then it should be widened. (See Church Street in Harvard Square for another example.) Reduce the width of the left travel lane (in both directions) to 9 feet to obtain the needed extra sidewalk width.
 
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