Boston University isn’t the only local school with blueprints for new buildings.
A major construction boom fueled by local colleges could change the Boston skyline over the next few years as institutions such as Berklee College of Music and Northeastern University move ahead with plans for a slew of new dormitories and administrative buildings.
Berklee students, like BU’s, decry a lack of community because of the school’s urban environment. The new construction projects are aimed at solidifying a campus atmosphere.
Although Berklee is the largest music college in the world, it lacks a central hub of buildings and only 800 of its 4,000 students live in student housing. The main goal of the construction, according to its website, would be to increase the school’s presence by creating “a compact and walkable campus” that houses 50 percent of its students.
Working with a Boston real estate firm, Berklee hopes to build a new complex at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street to accommodate 600 residents, a new state-of-the-art performance venue, teaching facilities and a contemporary music museum and archive. The school is also looking at properties along Massachusetts Avenue for additional housing in which it would relocate students scattered around Fenway and the Back Bay.
BU has undertaken similar efforts to build a sense of community and is slated to build a new dormitory complex on Buick Street to house its scattered population.
Berklee sophomore Ben Feltner said his school’s building proposal — still in its planning stages — has the potential to transform the Berklee campus area.
“I think it would change [the campus] very significantly,” he said. “It would make it feel more like a college.”
Feltner said the commute from his Cambridge apartment can take anywhere from half an hour to 45 minutes on the T, a routine only complicated when he is forced to lug his upright bass on the train.
Although many Berklee students commute from Allston, Feltner said, new housing would still make it more affordable for Berklee students to live closer to campus.
Northeastern University also hopes to construct a new residence hall on the corner of Ruggles and Tremont streets pending approval by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Northeastern spokesman Fred McGrail said in an email.
McGrail said the proposed building would house 1,200 students as well as administrative and retail space. Another residence hall would take the place of an existing administrative building.
“The proposal is the result of deliberations and the ultimate agreement of a community task force representing surrounding neighborhoods, which met for nearly two years,” McGrail added.
Private developers are also taking notice of students’ desire for choices in area housing. The Texas-based firm Phoenix Property Company plans to purchase 48,000 square feet from the YMCA’s Central Branch to build luxury student apartments starting in 2008, according to an Aug.16 press release.
The property, situated next to campuses on Huntington Avenue, would house up to 1,000 students and is geared toward students from the Six Colleges of Fenway, including Emmanuel College, the Massachusetts College of Art and Simmons College.
The apartments — which range from singles to four-bedroom suites — would provide more than most college dormitories by offering amenities including private kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms and laundry machines.