Tufts Development Projects

Cummings Center photo (from Nov 14) view from Boston Ave near the Tufts Garage (near the "outer" end of the future GLX Medford/Tufts station)
Outer cladding is mostly prefab panels of brick.
Cummings-Center_2020-11-14_082052734_HDR.jpg
 
Also, Tufts also built a handsome little garage on Boston Ave to replace some of the "back shops" functions that had been located on the Cummins site (wedged next to the GLX tracks)
 
Arlington said:
Cummings Center photo (from Nov 14) view from Boston Ave near the Tufts Garage (near the "outer" end of the future GLX Medford/Tufts station)
Outer cladding is mostly prefab panels of brick.
View attachment 8340
Click to expand...
1605629016694.png

Looks great - such a different entry point to the campus coming south down Boston ave.

That pedestrian bridge never made much sense once they got rid of the skybridge+headhouse design- what pathway is it serving? Is it still happening?
 
Cross posting here and at MWRA thread. Detail cop thinks this is related to Tufts intent to build a building atop what is now a parking deck at 200 Boston Ave Medford?

AA5B9E63-F72D-48D4-B4E8-30D8DDA88586.jpeg
 
bigpicture7 said:
Something to keep an eye out for coming down the road...
now.tufts.edu

Tufts Issues $250 Million in Bonds to Build New Housing, Enhance Infrastructure

Tufts University today completed a $250 million bond offering, the proceeds of which will be used to fund the construction of a high density, on-campus residenc
now.tufts.edu now.tufts.edu
Click to expand...
The Fletcher parking lot on Curtis seems to me to be the best place to put up new "high density" dorms on the Tufts campus. They could build into the hillside S of Carmichael, giving the new dorm an Uphill frontage between Carmichael and Houston as well as a Downhill frontage right on Fletcher Field (similar to how Dowling is built into the backside of the Hill so its first floor is at-grade on Boston Ave and its seventh floor is at-grade on the Academic Quad). There's a 2- to 3-story grade change on the back side of the Res Quad, so if a new dorm at the Fletcher lot were to rise 4 stories on the Uphill side to match the height of the Uphill dorms (Houston, Carmichael, Miller) that would give you about 6-7 stories of total height. You could potentially go even taller, but I think a limiting factor here is that once you get above ~4 stories it makes it less practical to take the stairs.

Some other options could be to expand Hill Hall all the way to Boston Ave (and give Boston Ave some real street frontage), or blow up Lane Hall altogether (moving its uses somewhere else, idk where) and replacing it with dorms.

The new Central Energy Plant also frees up old one for redevelopment, but that location is better suited to academic use than dorms.
 
Last edited:
Worth (re) posting: Work Zone Cam (is found on https://engineering.tufts.edu/jccwebcam)
(takes a day's worth of construction every 1st of the month across all months of construction)

Tufts' posted timeline:
  • Construction Start: June 2019
  • Construction Completion: Fall, 2021
  • Building Occupancy: Spring 2022

Tufts Engineering says: Occupants of Joyce Cummings Center include:
  • Department of Computer Science
  • Department of Economics
  • Department of Mathematics
  • Data Intensive Studies Center (DISC)
  • The Fletcher School's Executive Education and Global Master of Arts Program
  • Tufts Gordon Institute
 
I am posting here about 3 projects immediately adjacent to Tufts-owned parcels, all of which I hope Tufts Endowment will buy:

1) closed: Gas Station closure: Boston Ave at MVP part of what should be the future GLX at MVP site (Somerville).

2) building for sale: Hillside Hardware Boston Ave at Winthrop St. (Medford Hillside)

3) rumored sold: Titan Gas & Car Wash, Harvard Ave at 590 Boston Ave, Medford

All three are significant “the neighborhood is changing as the GLX arrives” sites, and two fitting the “fewer gas stations” trend

Hillside Hardware is the last of the local storefront hardware stores with only street parking and man-behind-a-counter layout (West Medford Hardware closed during Covid after probably 80+ years at its location)

Hillside hardware seemed like it should have long ago switched to a style more like Tags or Economy hardware—focused on student/young household needs like stylish lamps and clever storage with a splash of paint.
 
Incidentally, Hill Hall is getting a “dorm redo” (interiors and windows and brick repointing ).

I’d hoped Tufts would take the whole building and it’s scruffy parking lot and redo it with something that’d add to the street wall on Boston Ave (instead of the current 15’ high blank grassy slope that fronts Boston Ave.
 
now.tufts.edu

Tufts Plans New Residence Hall on Boston Avenue

Tufts will begin construction on an undergraduate residence hall for juniors and seniors on the Medford/Somerville campus next year. The seven-floor building on
now.tufts.edu now.tufts.edu

Tufts will begin construction on an undergraduate residence hall for juniors and seniors on the Medford/Somerville campus next year. The seven-floor building on Boston Avenue, expected to open in the fall of 2025, will house 398 students in apartment-style units and will welcome the public to its ground-floor retail space.

[…]

To be located across the street from the new Medford/Tufts MBTA station—part of the Green Line Extension project now nearing completion—the building will include an outdoor plaza and space for a first-floor retail operation, such as a café or restaurant, that will be open to the public.

“In addition to building a beautiful, efficient new residence hall, we are taking this opportunity to energize the Boston Avenue streetscape,” said Rocco DiRico, executive director of government and community relations at Tufts. “Our objective is to create an inviting place on campus, not just for our students, but also for our neighbors who may be catching a train into Boston and for our visitors who may be seeing Tufts for the first time.”

DiRico said the building accomplishes multiple, shared goals.

“For years, Medford and Somerville have asked us to create more high-density on-campus housing to open up off-campus housing for local families,” he said. “We are doing that here by adding nearly 400 beds for juniors and seniors who would otherwise have to rent apartments off campus.”
Click to expand...

From the render it looks like it’s going on the parking lots fronting Boston Ave behind Hill / Hillside / Hallowell, which is a no-brainer site for more housing. A win all around.

A few more thoughts:
  • 398 beds is significant for Tufts. Their last dorm (from 2006) was also an apartment-style development for upperclassmen, and it has only 124 beds over two buildings. Tufts has about 6k undergrads and a significant percentage of Juniors spend at least half of the year abroad, so this'll house roughly one-in-seven upperclassmen taking classes on the Medford/Somerville campus.
  • I'd expect this building (like the also 7-story Dowling garage next door) to have some sort of footbridge connecting the top floor to "the Hill" behind it. This'll make the building effectively shorter in some ways, as 7 stories on Boston Ave side = 1 story on the "uphill" side. Most students will probably access the building from the uphill side for a good number of their trips, freeing up the lower levels of the Boston Ave side for retail / public space. It could really be best-of-both-worlds for students: exit out the Boston Ave side for the gym and the T and stuff at the new Cummings building, but exit out the back footbridge side for everything else "uphill." This also takes away some of the annoyance of living on a high floor without an elevator; if you live on, say, the 6th floor of the 7-story building, you may end up only having to climb one flight of stairs for like half of your trips.
 
Last edited:
" From the render it looks like it’s going on the parking lots fronting Boston Ave behind Hill / Hillside / Hallowell, " Looking at Google Maps that is a very narrow strip of land.
 
Judging by the description in the article and supplied render showing its relation to the new building down the street.
tufts_residentce_hall_street_boston_ave.jpeg

It appears its going to go here where the parking lot is.
4EB8C8DB-B7AD-44BE-8CAE-D3DF1F7CF355.jpeg


But seeing that the render shows it at street level with Boston ave, it appears theyre going to dig the hill/parking lot down to street level first and then build the new dorm in its place.

-edit: TomofBoston said basically the same thing as I was making the post.

Definitely a win for the streetscape on Boston ave. Removing a grass hill and parking lot for a 398 room residence hall with street access is definitely a big improvement. Tufts is really making some great improvements to the area lately.
 
Last edited:
Yaay! This new dorm fulfills my wish for a better streetwall on the uphill/campus side of Boston Ave. These will also be ideal "Summer Intern" housing given what great access they'll have via the green line.
 
Tufts announces May 4th call to discuss new dorm-over-retail at 401 Boston Ave, Medford;
tufts.zoom.us

Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board...
tufts.zoom.us tufts.zoom.us
Description
Tufts University is proposing to construct a new on-campus dormitory at 401 Boston Avenue in Medford. This new transit-oriented dormitory will house Juniors and Seniors. It will also include retail space along Boston Avenue, pedestrian improvements, and a public plaza. At this meeting, Tufts will share project plans with our neighbors, answer your questions, and listen to [Tufts community member] feedback.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top