Harvard Enterprise Research Campus | 100 Western Avenue | Allston

JumboBuc said:
When it comes to future-proofing and transit planning from Kenmore to Allston to Harvard Square, I trust Harvard WAY more than I trust MassDOT. For instance: Harvard wants West Station and they want four tracks; the Commonwealth wants a train storage yard.

If this area remains a rapid transit desert (as it appears that we all, unfortunately but justifiably, suspect it will) it is more likely to be in spite of Harvard's efforts than because of them.
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The seven-page list of Allston-related Harvard planning documents on the BPDA site does not include documents published before 2013.

Document Center | Boston Planning & Development Agency

www.bostonplans.org www.bostonplans.org

^^^ There are numerous transportation studies.

IIRC, Harvard's 2007 IMP for Allston included dedicated transitways (with tunnel?) from Harvard's Allston properties to N. Harvard St, and thence north. Again IIRC, the transitway only reached to near the south bank of the Charles River, and transit-related projects for the Anderson Bridge crossing and up/down JFK St. to Harvard Square, were left for others. I can't readily find a copy of the 2007 IMP, the link below summarizes the salient features, and references the Urban Ring, of which the transitways were to be a part.

news.harvard.edu

Harvard submits multi-decade master plan framework for Allston

Harvard University today is filing a proposed Institutional Master Plan with the City of Boston detailing physical plans for an interdisciplinary campus in Allston. The Master Plan is a framework for the University's future physical and academic growth and includes potential locations for new...
news.harvard.edu news.harvard.edu
 
I think that Harvard is being too too tentative
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That's not enough density of R&D to create a Kendall-vibe
Remember that while Kendall was mostly empty before the recent flurry -- it had a solid core of MIT on one side, MIT initiated and controlled developments such as Tech Square and Draper and the old Badger Building and the Volpe complex -- so when Boston Properties started constructing there were already places where like-minded people worked

further remember that when Vertex leaped to the Seaport from the edge of Kendall -- it leaped over with 1M sq ft of R&D / tech office with a hotel already next door and plans for a lot more by others

Harvard should have told the BPDA that it was launching its commercial development with a Volpe-scale project --- In today's environment they would have gotten very little push-back
 
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As expected, those surface lots in the original plans for the Harvard land in Allston were just placeholders.
www.bostonglobe.com

Developer eyes another million square feet of labs, offices, and apartments for Harvard project - The Boston Globe

Tishman Speyer won one of the most sought-after development prizes in Boston when Harvard selected the company from a list of nearly 20 bidders to oversee development of 14 acres across from Harvard Business School.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Now that Tishman Speyer is formally seeking city approval for its project on Harvard-owned land in Allston, the developer is also publicly sharing a concept for the back half of the property that would essentially double the size of the development.

Harvard University had set aside roughly half of its 14 acres at 100 Western Ave. for surface parking, behind 900,000 square feet of development. But Tishman Speyer has more ambitious plans than simply laying down some asphalt. Its preliminary proposal for the back half of the Enterprise Research Campus includes another 1 million square feet of construction in five buildings — three office/lab buildings and two residential ones, with a total of 420 apartments — along with some surface and underground parking and an acre of open space.

[...]
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LOI:

bpda.app.box.com

2021-01-21_Letter of Intent (LOI)_Harvard Enterprise Research Campus.pdf | Powered by Box

bpda.app.box.com bpda.app.box.com

Mods, please rename this thread "Harvard Enterprise Research Campus | 100 Western Avenue | Allston"

After seeing the UHub article on this point out the pun in the name "Cattle Drive", it got me to wondering... the suffix "Drive" started being used for roads to signify that they were built to be cruised or motored on by cars, yet it's seen as quaint so a lot of these master planned developments keep using it for all their internal roads. The notion of a "X Drive" that's a woonerf flanked on both sides by bike lanes (not that I expect that from the ERC) is kind of absurd.

And yes, I get that "Cattle Drive" is a pun, but it's a more general observation.
 
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If I am not mistaken, this will be the Studio Gang's second project in Greater Boston (the first being One Kenmore Square). I think the single rendering may simply be a placeholder.
 
stellarfun said:
If I am not mistaken, this will be the Studio Gang's second project in Greater Boston (the first being One Kenmore Square). I think the single rendering may simply be a placeholder.
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Studio Gang and Henning Larsen, two great firms, are heading planning. Also working under them are Scape and Utile - I'm hoping for some great architecture here.
 
Does anybody know the story with the "sears foundation pad", just curious?
 
M.Morgan11 said:
Does anybody know the story with the "sears foundation pad", just curious?
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I assume there is a reference to such in the PNF.

If so, see:

Sears, Roebuck Company v. Penn Central Co., 420 F.2d 560 | Casetext Search + Citator

Read Sears, Roebuck Company v. Penn Central Co., 420 F.2d 560, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext’s comprehensive legal database
casetext.com

^^^ which describes the great Sears Roebuck warehouse fire of June 23, 1`965.

From the Globe archives, the fire destroyed a very large warehouse, 14 freight cars and 12 truck trailers. Soon after the conflagration broke out, the New York Central railroad dispatched a locomotive to pull the burning freight cars away from the warehouse. This quick action prevented the fire from spreading to three other warehouses. The warehouse stored mostly clothes, shoes, and garden equipment. And boxes of ammunition, which ignited. Thousands of spectators gathered to watch the blaze. One employee said that 'the warehouse burned so fast, you'd think it was soaked in gasoline'.
 
From the Globe today. The Genzyme plant next to the Harvard Enterprise campus is being converted to a contract [drug] manufacturing plant.

www.bostonglobe.com

Sanofi prepares to transfer Allston plant to a new company, but not its city tax breaks - The Boston Globe

Resilience’s interest in the 310,000-square-foot plant overlooking the Charles River provides further confirmation that this area in North Allston is well-positioned to become a life sciences hub.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Resilience’s interest in the 310,000-square-foot plant overlooking the Charles River provides further confirmation that this part of Allston is well-positioned to become a life sciences hub that would augment Kendall Square, the industry’s global epicenter. At least two major mixed-use projects with labs are already planned for nearby sites along Western Avenue, including one complex dubbed the Nexus and Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus.
....
The arrival of a new contract manufacturer as labs proliferate on both sides of the Charles will likely be celebrated by local biotechs. The wait time for contracted manufacturing work can be a major holdup for drug development and commercialization.
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stellarfun said:
From the Globe today. The Genzyme plant next to the Harvard Enterprise campus is being converted to a contract [drug] manufacturing plant.

www.bostonglobe.com

Sanofi prepares to transfer Allston plant to a new company, but not its city tax breaks - The Boston Globe

Resilience’s interest in the 310,000-square-foot plant overlooking the Charles River provides further confirmation that this area in North Allston is well-positioned to become a life sciences hub.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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That is the proverbial game changer
Just as TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co] made the fabless semiconductor company possible [such as Apple] and indeed now globally dominant -- the conversion of a very high quality bio mfg plant [albeit a few years old] into a contract manufacturer for the next gen bio/pharma can be HUGE!
and for once in the game of Global U supremacy -- this one benefits Harvard over MIT due to proximity
 
Four NBA All-Stars are helping fund a new Harvard University real-estate development, joining more than 150 Black and Latino professionals in backing the roughly $1 billion project.

Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors, Andre Iguodala of the Miami Heat, Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks and Andre Drummond of the Los Angeles Lakers are part of an investment group putting $30 million into the Boston development.

After developer Tishman Speyer submitted a proposal to build the project, Harvard asked the New York firm if it would commit to selling 5% of the development to Black and Latino people. Tishman agreed, said Chief Executive Rob Speyer.
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www.wsj.com

NBA All-Stars Invest in $1 Billion Harvard Real-Estate Development

Players from the L.A. Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks are among Black and Latinos funding the Boston project.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

(You'll need a WSJ subscription to read the rest of the article.)
 
That's a stacked consultant list (as one could expect from Harvard/Tishman, I suppose). This will hopefully be some quality work.

Guiding principles include properly and diverse scaled streets/district, varying heights, year-round comfort, promoting sustainable transport (hopefully means GL planning/rapid transit provisioning is being taken into account). Almost like they read every complaint we've had on here...
 
stefal said:
hopefully means GL planning/rapid transit provisioning is being taken into account
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Out of curiosity for anyone in the know, has Harvard ever directly commented on the inclusion of the urban ring in the planning of the Allston campus?
 
BentFryingPan said:
Out of curiosity for anyone in the know, has Harvard ever directly commented on the inclusion of the urban ring in the planning of the Allston campus?
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IIRC, the original IMP for the Allston campus included a tunnel for the Urban ring under Western Ave.
 
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