After months of roadblocks and opposition from angry Allston residents, Harvard University was given the final approval from the City of Boston to proceed with one of the major parts of its plan to expand into neighboring Allston.
Mayor Thomas Menino announced last week that the Boston Redevelopment Authority had approved Harvard’s plan to expand into Allston, calling for construction on the institution’s billion-dollar scientific research and education complex to begin before the end of the year.
“The 589,000-square-foot project will fulfill a growing need for new sciences research facilities focusing on chronic and deadly diseases, and will help the Boston metropolitan region maintain its reputation as a leader in life sciences research in a highly competitive global research marketplace,” a BRA press release states.
The four-building complex will be home to Harvard’s Stem Cell Institute, the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and related operations, as well as a central courtyard, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a day-care center, winter gardens, a retail component and 500 parking spaces.
“We are very pleased with the approval,” said Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn. “We think the Allston Science Complex is a good project for Harvard, the Allston community, the City of Boston and the general region, which has become an important national center for the kind of research the Allston Science Complex represents.”
In addition to the research that will be conducted at Harvard’s new science complex, Wrinn said the Allston community will benefit from new jobs and recreational space, and the university will offer increased tutoring for school-aged children and public science lectures.
“In addition to approximately 1,000 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs the complex will produce, Harvard will also create new public open spaces, parks and walkways and support job training and housing initiatives in the neighborhood,” Wrinn said.
Harvard planners worked with Behnisch Architeckten of Stuttgart, Germany and Payette Associates of Boston to implement “green” architecture, Wrinn said, adding the complex will voluntarily follow greenhouse gas emission caps and will only produce half the amount of greenhouse gases of similar buildings.
Since the proposal’s inception, many Allston residents have voiced their opposition to Harvard’s 50-year expansion plan, which residents claim will drastically change the community.
In May, Allston-Brighton Community Development Director Bob Van Meter, on behalf of many residents, called Harvard unresponsive and unwilling to answer the Allston community’s questions and address its concerns, according to Daily Free Press.
Last month, Harry Mattison, leader of the Harvard Allston Taskforce, a group that monitors Harvard’s construction plans, said the university has not made enough of an effort to communicate with citizens and left many questions unanswered.
“We’ve never had an honest and open dialogue [with Harvard],” Mattison said. “There’s always a new excuse . . . One excuse after another excuse, and month after month, there’s not really a lot of great discussion about anything.”
BRA spokeswoman Lucy Warsh said the authority took many aspects into consideration before the members decided to accept the plan.
“The project has gone through a comprehensive consideration by the board,” Warsh said. “The BRA acts as the go between between the community and the institution in this case to make sure that the community is heard. We feel that we have adequately reviewed the project and determined that it will be beneficial to the city, neighborhood and the institution.”