Students in Boston University’s West Campus, accustomed to train tracks running from behind the College of Fine Arts westward into Allston, may someday find a building emblazoned with the Harvard University crest instead.
Harvard is one step closer to being able to redevelop a 50-acre parcel of land in Allston near the tracks, known as the Beacon Park Yard, according to Harvard spokeswoman Lauren Marshall. The news came after an agreement between the state and CSX last week.
The long-pending agreement that could potentially cease CSX rail operations on the property is set to go before the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in October, according to a Sept. 23 press release from Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray’s office.
The CSX deal is expected to relieve congestion, pollution, traffic and economic problems by updating the state rail system, according to the release.
Though Harvard has owned the land for five years, it’s not permitted to use it while CSX operates there. The pending state agreement would reorganize the state rail system and increase chances for an agreement between Harvard and CSX-moving the rail operations off the land.
‘The discussions that have been going on between CSX and Harvard and the state . . . provide the optimism that while there aren’t any specific plans today, there are opportunities for economic development and those opportunities are closer now,’ she said.
Harvard Medical School professor Jordan Pohlman said he thinks the new development is a positive one.
‘Harvard and BU collaborate on a lot of things,’ he said. ‘Even if there will be some competition, it will be healthy competition.’
Harvard freshman Iris Lopez said potentially developing the land was a logical choice for the school.
‘All universities would want to expand,’ she said. ‘That’s a natural thing.’
Some BU students expressed concern about the land’s proximity to campus.
School of Management and School of Hospitality Administration sophomore Howard Male said Harvard must recognize the effects this could have on BU’s campus and students.
‘If they’re not going to encroach on our space, then it’s fine for them to join the community,’ he said.
Male, who lives in Sleeper Hall in West Campus, said he would consider it an encroachment if Harvard’s logo were suddenly all over that side of campus-potentially imposing on sporting events or views of the Charles river.
But the proximity of Harvard’s land to BU could potentially benefit the relationship between the two universities.
‘It would necessitate additional communication between our two administrations, which hopefully would improve relations between the two universities,’ he said.
Although he said he thinks it could become more of hub for students if Harvard builds student housing on the land, it could also negatively affect the Allston community.
‘[It] could increase enforcement of certain laws that have recently come into effect, such as the no more than four student laws. . . . In addition rental prices would likely rise because of the increased demand.’
College of Communication senior Cayla O’Connell, who lives in Packard’s Corner in Allston, said bringing Harvard students into a BU area would be strange.
‘[Allston is] an extremely BU community that’s sort of an off-campus community, so I’d be surprised to see how Harvard students mingle into that,’ she said.
If the new facilities are classroom buildings or similar, she said she expected transportation to become more complicated.
‘We’d have a whole traffic flow of students coming onto the BU campus to attend class,’ she said. ‘Packard’s corner is always a mob scene at 8:30 in the morning . . . add [more] students to that and it’s going to be insane.’
The idea of Harvard operating in close proximity to BU was generally off-putting, she said.
‘I just think it’s very weird to put two campuses on the same street, especially big campuses,’ she said. ‘This is clearly BU territory.’
Staff reporters Yue Huang and Lilia Stantcheva contributed reporting to this article.
This version corrects an earlier version of this story that incorrectly stated Harvard was set to buy the rail yard, and that development plans were underway.
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