Boston University hopes to begin construction on a new biomedical and engineering research facility this fall at the site of the current Nickelodeon Theater, BU Executive Vice President Joe Mercurio said yesterday.
Administrators are also in the design phase of developing a new computer science and classroom building for Commonwealth Avenue, he said.
Administrators plan to construct the biomedical building on the current site of the Nickelodeon Theatre at 20-28 Cummington St., Mercurio said. Should everything go according to plan, the Nickelodeon will be torn down this summer, he said.
“There hasn’t been a firm decision made on when we’ll tear down the Nickelodeon it depends on if we can find some other classroom space,” he said. “We hope to advance that project fairly rapidly so we’re in construction by perhaps next fall or early winter.”
The computer science building would go on the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Granby Street, currently a parking lot next to Burger King, according to Mercurio.
Mercurio said the new buildings mark two of the three most significant current BU development projects, the other being the Student Village project on Commonwealth Avenue between Buick Street and Harry Agganis Way. He said BU has many smaller projects in various stages of design and development as well.
The computer science and biomedical buildings are both in the early design phases of development, Mercurio said. He said significant approval processes remain for all three sites.
“We have a regulatory process to navigate for all of these projects,” Mercurio said. “The Armory is the one most advanced, although we have a couple of regulatory hurdles the most significant being the question of the historic value of the head house. With regard to the others, the process will be lengthier.”
Mercurio said the two newest projects will require the approval of the BU community task force, Boston Redevelopment Authority and Boston Zoning Commission, and would have to be tested for environmental impact.
“None of these projects are a certainty,” he said. “They could run into problems along the way.”
Mercurio said administrators are also in the process of revising BU’s Master Plan, which will expire in late June. The new plan will include more detail about the two planned buildings, although Mercurio said abstract plans for the two sites were included in the latest version.
Administrators are in the process of compiling data for the new Master Plan. They will meet shortly with community task force members to begin developing the new plan.
“Part of what we need to do for approval is to submit the new Master Plan to scrutiny to community members, and then we’ll start the Boston Redevelopment Authority process,” Mercurio said. “That really kicks off everything else from there.”
Mercurio said estimates for the cost of the projects have not been formulated because it is so early in the process for both buildings. He said hard estimates for the new parking garage, arena and student health center have not yet been made either, though those should be made in the near future.
“We’ll shortly have hard numbers because we really need to get the construction drawings to the 60 percent completion stage before we can go out and start pricing off of those plans with outside vendors and contractors,” Mercurio said.
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