Harvard - Allston Campus

Harvard officially halts construction on Allston science complex
December 10, 2009
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Harvard President Drew Faust formally announced today that the university would halt construction of its state-of-the-art science complex in Allston in early spring after the first phase winds down.

The moratorium had been expected since Faust warned in February that the pace of its expansion across the river would be slowed given the university's financial troubles. Amid the recession, Harvard's endowment has dropped 27 percent to $26 billion.

"The altered financial landscape of the university, and of the wider world, necessitates a shift away from rapid development in Allston, and thus requires a simultaneous commitment to a program of active stewardship of Harvard properties,'' Faust wrote in a letter to the community today.

The Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, reviewed options for the complex this week, and decided to delay the next phase of construction while continuing to examine future possibilities, Faust said in her letter. The first phase of construction -- completing the foundation and bringing the structure to ground level -- is expected to be finished by spring 2010.

The below-grade structure encompasses 8,000 tons of structural steel and spaces for laboratory support and power generation. Street-level concrete deck is nearing completion, Faust said.

"The delay will in no way slow Harvard's significant momentum in the life sciences," Faust wrote.

Stem cell researchers who were scheduled to move into the science complex by the original 2011 opening have been relocated to renovated laboratory space on Harvard's Cambridge campus. While the university is trying to lease its vacant properties in Allston -- amid criticism from neighbors who accuse Harvard of landbanking and leaving the area pockmarked with empty lots and storefronts -- Faust admits that Harvard must do more.

Harvard is committed to converting the number of its properties, currently reserved for construction support, to leasable buildings, and investing in improvements to make them more attractive to prospective tenants, she said. It will also offer more long-term lease options, up to 10 years.
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Houston!!!!! We have a problem with the economy when Harvard starts to worry about it's finances.
 
The below-grade structure encompasses 8,000 tons of structural steel and spaces for laboratory support and power generation.
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This sounds like an improvement over current City Hall... howabout makin the move to Allston, Maeyah?
 
Expanded article in the Globe.

Science center is put on hold

Harvard president says more funds needed to complete Allston site

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | December 11, 2009

The giant crater in Allston has given rise to a bleak expanse of concrete and steel, the bones of the science complex envisioned as the anchor of Harvard University?s sweeping expansion across the Charles River. But that landscape might not change for the foreseeable future.

Harvard president Drew G. Faust formally announced yesterday that the university would halt construction of the $1 billion state-of-the-art building in March, to give Harvard time to drum up alternative ways to finance the project.

It might have been worse, said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who met with Faust for nearly two hours Wednesday evening to discuss the site?s future and Harvard?s overall expansion plans in Allston. At one point, he saidyesterday, the university considered pulling the plug on the project until its battered endowment rebounded. But Menino said he urged Harvard not to abandon the grand plans.

?One thing I said, I don?t want slums,?? he said in an interview. ?I want progress.??

The moratorium has been expected since Faust warned 10 months ago that the pace of Harvard?s expansion in Allston, where it owns about 350 acres, would be slowed, given the university?s financial troubles. Amid the recession, Harvard?s endowment has dropped 27 percent to $26 billion.

?The altered financial landscape of the university, and of the wider world, necessitates a shift away from rapid development in Allston and thus requires a simultaneous commitment to a program of active stewardship of Harvard properties,?? Faust wrote in a letter to the Allston and Harvard communities yesterday.

It remains unclear when the science complex will be completed or what design it will take. In the meantime, university officials are turning their attention to maintaining and renting adjacent vacant properties. Harvard plans to lease an additional 100,000 square feet of property previously reserved for construction support, Faust said.

The uncertain future of the science complex represents a dream deferred for both the university, which planned to relocate its stem cell scientists and other researchers to the site, and for Allston residents, who for years have accused Harvard of leaving the area pockmarked with empty lots and storefronts. It was to have spurred a flurry of economic development and amenitiesin the former industrial neighborhood.

Sidewalk cafes were to spring up alongside theaters and clothing boutiques. Barry?s Corner, the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue now marked by a vacant gas station, would be transformed into something akin to Harvard Square.

Yesterday?s announcement of further delay to redevelopment added to the uncertainty Allston residents say they feel.

?The neighborhood feels abandoned and ignored,?? said Harry Mattison, an Allston resident and member of a neighborhood planning task force. ?We?re trying to raise families here and to enjoy a halfway decent quality of life while there is blight all over this neighborhood.??

Menino, who in February sent Faust a strongly worded letter urging Harvard not to abandon its commitments to the city, said the delay on completing the science center is worrisome.But he said he is buoyed by Faust?s commitment to think creatively on how to complete the project.

In a new concession to the neighborhood, discussed during the meeting between the mayor and Faust, Harvard has agreed to convert the current location of Brookline Machine into 10 units of market-rate housing. That plan for the parcel, off Western Avenue, is expected to help break a logjam over the proposed relocation of the nearby Charlesview affordable housing complex.

During their discussions, Menino said, Faust was amenable to his suggestions of alternative financing options for the science complex, including leasing the space from a private developer and buying it back in 15 years.

?It?s the only concept that makes sense in these economic times,?? he said. ?They?re listening now more than ever. I think Drew would like to get it done.??

Menino said he also urged Faust to consider ways to make Harvard?s existing properties more attractive, such as installing art in the huge windows of a former auto dealership. Harvard is also in discussions with a fine restaurant to lease the gas station space, he said.

?Do it different,?? he said. ?I don?t want that area to look like it?s been abandoned. For too long, that?s what it?s looked like.??

While the university is aggressively trying to lease its vacant properties in Allston, Faust admits that Harvard must do more. The school plans to invest in building improvements to make them more attractive to prospective tenants, she said in her letter. It will also offer more long-term lease options, up to 10 years, compared with the three- to five-year leases now available.

Since February, when Faust first indicated the possibility that the complex would be delayed, the university has entered into six leases, including with research and information technology firms, movie studios, and a gardening center, said Katherine Lapp, executive vice president of Harvard.

For now, the foundation of the complex is nearing completion. The structure has been brought up to street level, and workers are waterproofing a concrete deck.

The below-grade structure contains 8,000 tons of structural steel and space for laboratory support and power generation.

One option being explored over the next year is co-development of the science complex, as well as other Allston sites, in partnership with a hospital or some other organization for help in financing, Lapp said.

Faust recently assembled a three-member Harvard team experienced in design, urban planning, business strategy, real estate development, and public policy to make recommendations on how to proceed. Peter Tufano, a Harvard Business School dean; Alex Krieger, an urban planning professor in the Graduate School of Design; andBill Purcell, head of the Institute of Politics and the former mayor of Nashville will help plan for university growth.
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http://www.boston.com/news/educatio...9/12/11/science_center_is_put_on_hold/?page=2

Other articles, covering much the same ground, appear in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. The other articles offer various soundbyte quotes from Harry Mattison, who, IMO, is starting to take a page or two from Ned's playbook.

Basically, the science complex, which already has probably $150-200 million in sunk construction costs, is third priority for Harvard's near-yerm capital plans. Higher on the list, and costing about $1.5 buillion, are the reconstruction of all the residence houses along the river, and the Piano-designed renovation / expansion of the Fogg museum.

The additional 100,000 sq ft of space to now be leased may be the former WGBH building(s).

IMO, any new building that Harvard does in Allston (aside from whatever is done with the Science Complex site) in the next decade will be done by the B-school, which has its own endowment pot and fund-raising abilities.
 
the reconstruction of all the residence houses along the river
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And I thought Harvard needed to build new residential houses in Allston before they could even start on this, since reconstructing the old houses would require closing them?
 
Ron Newman said:
And I thought Harvard needed to build new residential houses in Allston before they could even start on this, since reconstructing the old houses would require closing them?
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I think that was the original idea; the new residence house that was planned where the swimming pool, the basketball field house, the strength and conditioning building, the hockey rink, etc, currently are, could have functioned as swing space as a residential house such as Kirkland was closed 12 months for renovation. On the older houses, the renovation need is so extensive, they might need 15 months to complete it.

I don't know what Harvard's solution might be. Lesley bought part of the Episcopal Divinity School campus on Brattle, but the sale is not final until next year. Maybe Harvard could lease, although I have no idea of what the living spaces are like. Another option would be to lease a hotel like the Hyatt on Memorial Drive.

And in some sort of perverse result, Harvard could take over the old Charlesview once the new Charlesview is built, spend a few coins on upgrades and repairs, and voila, a temporary residence hall.
 
Hyatt'a a long way away -- students would hate that. The Sheraton Commander might make more sense. Your Charlesview suggestion is intriguing.
 
Ron Newman said:
Hyatt'a a long way away -- students would hate that. The Sheraton Commander might make more sense. Your Charlesview suggestion is intriguing.
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Harvard runs shuttles from the Quad, which is pretty far away too. I hadn't thought about the Sheraton Commander. It has 175 rooms, and you probably need to house 300-350 students. The existing Charlesview has 200+ units.

Harry Mattison will probably have conniptions if Harvard used the Charlesview. IIRC, he was among those objecting to Harvard siting some of the new athletic facilities at Barry's Corner; noise, crowds, rowdiness.
 
You can walk from Harvard to the Quad, though, and many people do. It's also a really short bike ride. The Hyatt Regency is two miles away from Harvard Square and has almost no public transit access.
 
Imagine attending Harvard, expecting the warmth and grandeur of a proper residential college, and then getting stuffed in the Charlesview apartments, which even residents hated.
 
I'd have a conniption fit if they tore down Dillon Field House for some residence halls, especially since they have a ton of open space around the athletic campus anyhow.
 
Charlesview Amends Plans

By Sofia E. Groopman, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, December 11, 2009
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATION APPENDED

Just six hours after the University?s announcement that it will halt construction on the Allston Science Complex, tensions ran high last night at a community input meeting regarding the relocation of the Charlesview Appartments, a concrete cluster of 213 low-income housing units located near the Business School.

As part of a land swap deal with Harvard, the Charlesview Board of Directors plans to move residents out of the current structure?which is near Harvard?s long-awaited, and now further postponed, Allston Science Complex?in an effort to further development in the neighborhood. Relocated Charlesview residents are expected to be given space in other yet-to-be constructed, housing units on land in the neighborhood currently owned by the University.

The 2007 land swap agreement was intended to allow the University to consolidate its Allston land holdings while giving residents new housing and amenities.

But the redevelopment plan has caused tensions in the neighborhood, with residents concerned that the blueprint did not fall in line with the neighborhood?s overall aesthetic.

In response to these concerns, David Hancock, the project manager for redevelopment, proposed a new architectural plan for the complex. The redesign included a reduction in building heights throughout the sites, but it increased the number of plots that will ultimately serve as sites for the apartment units. The new plan also included more retail space along Western Ave., and it decreases the amount of parking available near housing units.

Additionally, Harvard?s Director of Community Relations for Boston Kevin A. McCluskey ?76 announced at the beginning of the meeting that Harvard will ensure that at least 10 units of market-priced housing will be built on the Brookline Machine site, which was a major point of contention at the previous community meeting. According to a statement released by Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications Christine M. Heenan, the plans for the Brookline site were finalized on Wednesday night at a meeting between President Drew G. Faust and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
Regarding the redesign, McCluskey said that Harvard was ?very proud? of the progress that has been made with the Charlesview project.

?This has been a very constructive conversation and now has led to a good proposal and one that all of you have had a lot of input in shaping and improving,? he said.

But many of the residents present at the meeting did not think that the redesign adequately addressed their concerns.

Allston resident Tim McHale proposed a ten-point plan to improve the current design. The proposal included allowing space for backyards in the housing units and moving a McDonald?s to make room for a more attractive plaza on Western Avenue.

?We want more of a neighborhood feel,? McHale said.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority will hold an open meeting next Thursday, during which they will review any revisions to the Charlesview design and vote on whether or not to give the Charlesview Board a permit to begin construction.

?Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTIONS
An earlier version of the Dec. 11 news article "Harvard Amends Charlesview Plans" incorrectly stated in the headline and elsewhere in the piece that the University was changing its plans with regards to the Charlesview Apartments. In fact, the plans in question were those of the Charlesview Board of Directors.

The article also incorrectly stated that Harvard had plans to destroy the Charlesview complex. In fact, though residents expressed concern about the possibility of such a move at last nights meeting, the University has not finalized any plans to do so.

CLARIFICATION
The article also may have incorrectly implied that Charlesview residents would be relocated into Harvard-owned buildings in Allston. In fact, though the land where the residents will be relocated is currently owned by the University, it will be exchanged with the Charlesview Board as part of a land swap agreement.
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http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/12/11/housing-meeting-charlesview-harvard/

(bolding mine)

The new Charlesview.
205632_modelcharlesviewredevelopment_630x418.jpg


Not met with enthusiasm by some Allston residents, but that's really a separate thread.
 
Everything the Crimson writes is complete hackery. They once misquoted me so badly that what I said literally didn't make sense. Then, when I demanded they correct it, they did change it, but not to anything sensical. Ugh.

I cannot believe those kids are taken so seriously as journalists that they all get jobs in an industry that's rapidly hemorrhaging them.

Oh yeah, though "less parking" and "more retail" for the new Charlesview sounds nice, it looks like a timeshare community on the Cape. WTF.

Reminder: this was Plan A:

3683109086_2eef1fd7c7.jpg


And this is the current, resident-driven plan:

3683109214_6e68fa0dee.jpg


It actually looks like they added parking...unless what they removed was underground. Either way, the new plan includes ugly surface lots, whereas the previous one didn't.
 
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Hideous.

Timeshare community on the cape is being generous. I would say retirement community in Norton.
 
Of course they have to have their five feet of grassy perimeter so they can gradually pave it over just like the rest of Allston has.
 
For some reason, many people in the community think that you can't raise a family in a large multi-unit building, that you have to have something that resembles a traditional house in order to do so.
 
Why must we condescend to the Charlesview community? They're advocating for what they think is best for their neighborhood - THEIR neighborhood. This isn't about the future of the Greenway. This is a small segment of an isolated neighborhood that will have little impact on the vast majority of Boston residents' daily lives and urban experiences - and that would be true whether it's semi-detached homes or multi-unit apartments with buried parking.

It makes sense to castigate developers who try to colonize a Houstonlike existence on Boston's urban landscape, and we can rightly say they don't know Boston.

But are we guilty of the same thing here? Why is it so important that Charlesview become an urban space?
 
Why must we condescend to the Charlesview community? They're advocating for what they think is best for their neighborhood - THEIR neighborhood.
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As I understand it, it's not the Charlesview community that's driving most of these changes. The Charlesview Board approved the original design. It's the A/B residents that keep demanding changes to the design. Charlesview residents have been ready to move forward for more than a year.
 
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