BU Development Thread

FK4 said:
As someone who grew up in Brookline and oppose what BU has done, I can tell you that the frequenters of the retail along that stretch heavily included me and my friends when we were growing up, as well as the many, many people who live in the adjoining stretch of Brookline. Many of the places that I used to go have been shuttered by BU. I don't know why anyone bothers arguing against the fact that BU needs to change its tune re local color and retail. It's so clearly a net benefit for the school, and for the community at large.
Click to expand...

I wasn't arguing against. But BU has been expanding and acquiring property to the point that they really do own almost everything within walking distance, especially along the middle of that stretch of Comm. Ave. So any push for retail, restaurants at the ground level in the central campus area would be focused on students, faculty and staff as potential customers.

BU Central is still viable for ground level retail, but I think Kenmore and West Campus are more promising and I think especially Kenmore should be the next focus.

They do mention something about ground level retail in their IMP for the Deerfield street lot, so it has been on the table for a few years. To me that would be the best next opportunity as the location would be very good for a restaurant and retail on the ground level.

But BU doesn't have a Harvard size or MIT size endowment to leverage for real estate investment and non-academic on campus development, so I think it will take some time to pull things together.
 
In an effort to move this thread away from the shopaholics, has anyone heard an update on BU's plans for a new dental school building on the medical campus?

The current dental building would be converted to a library/classroom building for the medical school. This was mentioned a couple of years ago on the dental school website but there have been no updates.
 
dwash59 said:
The last I checked, Matthew has a PhD from BU, so I find this a bit funny.

More to the point, I think this topic has largely consisted of BU Alumni saying they want more retail along this stretch, and people who didn't attend BU saying campuses shouldn't have retail.

Trust me when I say there are BU alumni that are also complaining to the administration about them removing retail and their failure to liven up Comm Ave. I also know there are faculty complaining about the scarcity of food choices in Central Campus to take visitors to for working lunches.
Click to expand...

This is an important point as well.

Want to attract world class faculty and staff? Location is important, and location includes the micro-level - where do I get to go to lunch every day?

Thats why people like cities. Not because they love architecture and glass towers, but because they want the amenities - aka retail.
 
jass said:
This is an important point as well.

Want to attract world class faculty and staff? Location is important, and location includes the micro-level - where do I get to go to lunch every day?

Thats why people like cities. Not because they love architecture and glass towers, but because they want the amenities - aka retail.
Click to expand...

Surely Elie Weisel and Robert Pinsky are reeling over the loss of a drive-thru Burger King.
 
bdurden said:
Surely Elie Weisel and Robert Pinsky are reeling over the loss of a drive-thru Burger King.
Click to expand...

The demolition of that drive thru Burger King was a travesty. To add insult to injury the Gulf gas station next to it was also demolished!!! Those two establishments gave the BU campus such an air of....urbanity and sophistication!

And then the AMC dealership across the street went out of business. So sad because I bought my first car there: an AMC Gremlin. And another gas station in front of the Metcalf Center was forced to close.

Shame on BU for destroying such a vibrant retail strip.
 
TomOfBoston said:
The demolition of that drive thru Burger King was a travesty. To add insult to injury the Gulf gas station next to it was also demolished!!! Those two establishments gave the BU campus such an air of....urbanity and sophistication!

And then the AMC dealership across the street went out of business. So sad because I bought my first car there: an AMC Gremlin. And another gas station in front of the Metcalf Center was forced to close.

Shame on BU for destroying such a vibrant retail strip.
Click to expand...

This guy is taking on fullblown troll status, folks
 
Ok boys ... mod yourselves or be modded.

This is childish crap. Pull out of it.

cca
 
jass said:
This is an important point as well.

Want to attract world class faculty and staff? Location is important, and location includes the micro-level - where do I get to go to lunch every day?

That's why people like cities. Not because they love architecture and glass towers, but because they want the amenities - aka retail.
Click to expand...

Jass -Please -- you attract a World Class Faculty and Staff by giving them:
1) access to other world class faculty, staff and students
2) world class research facilities [with for and to] support the World Class R&D
3) a World Class attitude

Cute local shops and urban-chic are much much lower on the list -- i.e. the above list works in nice cities, not so nice cities, suburbs and even rural areas

Its also very damn hard to achieve World Class status and its also possible to lose it

Note BU is generally considered to be in the Top 100 U's on the Global Scale -- so it is possible to improve as this kind of ranking would have been considered impossible 50 years ago
 
Last edited:
TomOfBoston said:
Why? Because I disagree with the paradigm that the BU campus should be a retail mecca for teenagers from Brookline?
Click to expand...

No, because rather than respond to the discussion with any reasoned arguments you repeatedly respond with sarcastic and off the mark statements.

You have shown nothing close to an argument other than to insult those who support a more active and engaging urban landscape. I don't actually know what your argument is- is it
-let BU do whatever they want, it's their property and screw the city in which they reside and to which they pay no taxes?
-universities are exempt from the principles of good urbanism and benefit from homegeneity and banishment of outside influence?
-retail adds nothing and should be destroyed because we can all go to the mall?
-comm ave had nothing before other than gas stations, fast food chains and auto stores (which is NOT true) so there's no loss in demolishing them?

Not sure but if you actually have an opinion that relates to BU development and the principles of good urban development as relates to BU and Comm Ave, feel free to share it. But nearly all of your posts on this thread have been sarcastic responses that ignore the meat of the issue. So, yes, sorry, by levying personal attacks and inducing arguments that have nothing to do with what we are trying to discuss here, that does constitute trolling.
 
FK4 said:
No, because rather than respond to the discussion with any reasoned arguments you repeatedly respond with sarcastic and off the mark statements.

You have shown nothing close to an argument other than to insult those who support a more active and engaging urban landscape. I don't actually know what your argument is- is it
-let BU do whatever they want, it's their property and screw the city in which they reside and to which they pay no taxes?
-universities are exempt from the principles of good urbanism and benefit from homegeneity and banishment of outside influence?
-retail adds nothing and should be destroyed because we can all go to the mall?
-comm ave had nothing before other than gas stations, fast food chains and auto stores (which is NOT true) so there's no loss in demolishing them?

Not sure but if you actually have an opinion that relates to BU development and the principles of good urban development as relates to BU and Comm Ave, feel free to share it. But nearly all of your posts on this thread have been sarcastic responses that ignore the meat of the issue. So, yes, sorry, by levying personal attacks and inducing arguments that have nothing to do with what we are trying to discuss here, that does constitute trolling.
Click to expand...

Serving up that beat down.
 
FK4 said:
-comm ave had nothing before other than gas stations, fast food chains and auto stores (which is NOT true) so there's no loss in demolishing them?
Click to expand...

I was there in the 1970's and that was mostly true.

OK, rational argument: a lot of potential applicants write off BU because it lacks a real campus. If Comm Ave was lined with retail it would destroy what semblance BU has of defining its campus as a university and not just "a bunch of buildings on a busy street" as one applicant called it.

Retail can be encouraged in Kenmore Square or west of the BU Bridge but not in the central campus.

And as for rational arguments can those claiming that retail is necessary for a world class university cite any studies that support that?
 
Last edited:
TomOfBoston said:
I was there in the 1970's and that was mostly true.

OK, rational argument: a lot of potential applicants write off BU because it lacks a real campus. If Comm Ave was lined with retail it would destroy what semblance BU has of defining its campus as a university and not just "a bunch of buildings on a busy street" as one applicant called it.

Retail can be encouraged in Kenmore Square or west of the BU Bridge but not in the central campus.

And as for rational arguments can those claiming that retail is necessary for a world class university cite any studies that support that?
Click to expand...

Do you have anything empirical to support that argument? Because not-at-all-anecdotally, "lack of a real campus" has for decades been one of the--if not #1 of all--selling points that attract prospective students. They not only promote that to the hilt, but have reams upon reams of survey data points going back decades backing that up. What is your evidence that the opposite is true?
 
whighlander said:
Cute local shops and urban-chic are much much lower on the list -- i.e. the above list works in nice cities, not so nice cities, suburbs and even rural areas
Click to expand...

Actually, no, that depends entirely on the individual.

Why do you think GE moved into the city?

If you are a top tier employee, you have choices. Some people will take a lower pay because it is their ideal location. For some, that means a rural location where they can buy a 2 acre home and never deal with traffic. For other, that means having 15 retail lunch spots within a 5 minute walk.

People reject job offers for all sorts of reasons. Maybe the commute just doesn't seem worth it. Maybe the vibe is wrong. Maybe the vacation package isnt great.

Regardless of individual preference, I cant think of a single person who would say "gee whiz, I love how there are so few lunch options!"

FYI: I work at a major research university. I know half my department would not be working here if our building was located at the suburban campus rather than the urban location we are in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top