Following years of planning and protest by community groups, Allston residents and Harvard University officials say they are cautiously excited about the possible benefits the university’s planned expansion will bring to the area.
Although construction of a Harvard science complex is set to begin soon, an official groundbreaking ceremony will have to wait until the university signs a cooperation agreement with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said BRA spokeswoman Jessica Shumaker.
The agreement contains a $24 million benefits package for the Allston community, including new public parks, a Harvard Allston Partnership Fund for neighborhood improvement projects and education initiatives for local families – all intended to offset animosity that arose when Harvard first began looking into Allston expansion.
“We are very proud of the agreement and we think it outlines a number of things that the community has asked for,” Shumaker said. “We think it’s a great beginning to the benefits package that Harvard will commit to once they submit their master plan.”
The Institutional Master Plan is a 50-year planning framework that would redevelop approximately 200 acres of land in Allston. The IMP includes potential locations for academic programs, professional schools and streetscape improvements.
Harvard submitted a draft of the IMP to the city last January, but they are in the process of fine-tuning and revising the plan, Lauren Marshall, Harvard University planning and community programs spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The university will resubmit another plan to the City of Boston sometime in the fall with another benefits package attached, Marshall said.
The planned science complex is scheduled for completion in 2011 and will have 589,000 square feet of space dedicated to research, laboratory education areas and public amenities, she said.
Marshall said the center will help Harvard strengthen its already robust science programs and help Boston stay on the cutting-edge of scientific innovation.
She said the university plans to administer a comprehensive neighborhood assessment program to brainstorm further community benefits that will come with the IMP approval, including proposed ideas for a community center and a K-12 school.
“This is not the end but the beginning of a discussion,” Marshall said. “We will be continuing the benefits dialogue as we develop a master plan for community benefits associated with the IMP.”
Allston-Brighton Community Development Center Executive Director Robert Van Meter said though he thinks the science complex will benefit Allston, he wants to see more once the plan is approved.
“The key is that Harvard’s plans and developments go forward in a way that supports a healthy and diverse resident community,” he said.
Harvard junior Spring Greeney said she hopes the expansion of Harvard into Allston will not divide the student body.
However, she said that she still finds the construction of the science buildings and new environmentally friendly technologies “exciting.”
“If the plan is done well, it can be really amazing for the Harvard community and for the extended Allston community,” Greeney said.
