The Boston Skating Club’s plans for a new facility at 176 Everett Street in Allston are getting about as much love from neighbors as Nancy Kerrigan did from Tonya Harding.
June 20, 2013
Demolish, rebuild, repeat
The Charlesview Residences, which were built to replace the Charlesview Apartments development that Harvard purchased and plans to demolish, which in turn were built to replace the Barry’s Corner neighborhood that was flattened by an urban renewal scheme, will have its ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow at 12 noon at 400 Western Avenue.
April 7, 2013
Barry’s Corner development may include Smith Field improvements
Harvard University’s negotiations with the community continue, with task force members unhappy with the lack of a specific benefits package tied to the Barry’s Corner project. The task force consensus was that renovations to Smith Field be linked to approval of the development.
March 6, 2013
Community gives Harvard a ‘yes, but…” answer
The Harvard Allston task force voted Tuesday night to support the plan to relocate the Campus Services facility, but only if the school agrees to move the facility again once the Western Avenue science complex is complete. The building would be home to a number of functions, including managing Harvard’s fleet of vehicles.
February 6, 2013
Engineering school move to Allston Harvard’s latest cheating scandal
Harvard will be moving its engineering school to Allston, according to the Crimson, which interviewed president Drew Faust. Until now, the public plans were to use the property now occupied by the Charlesview Apartments as a parking lot. The private plans were clearly quite different from what was submitted to the BRA last fall, and presented to the community. What other surprises are in store?
CORRECTION: The engineering school will relocate to the Western Avenue planned life sciences center site, not the Charlesview location, according to Kevin Galvin of Harvard. Harvard Magazine has an overview of the school’s Allston history.
Not the only cheating scandal going on at the university, eh?
Harvard has been both high-handed and underhanded in its treatment of Allston. Underhanded, with its surreptitious acquisition of acres of property. High-handed, with its shabby behavior. Emptying out the properties it acquired and letting them sit vacant for years, greatly harming the vitality of local business areas. Not to mention lots of vacant building look awful.
How will the BRA react to this? The city’s planning agency can’t plan if a developer deceives it.
January 24, 2013
The latest from Harvard
Harvard’s plans continued to be met with skepticism at last night’s Harvard-Allston Task Force meeting. Residents voiced again their concerns about relocating storage and maintenance facilities to Travis Street, as well as the school’s overall approach, citing a lack transparency as to what their plans are.
The architect originally hired to design the new science complex on Western Avenue is being wooed to rejoin the project, which was put on hold in 2009.
The next meeting of the task force is Wednesday, February 6, at 6PM in Cumnock Hall Room 102, at Harvard Business School.
January 7, 2013
Round-up on Harvard’s plans
Harry Mattison has lots of information on Harvard’s latest plans for Allston, such as they are. Scroll down to the posts starting with “More on Harvard’s empty warehouses.”
November 27, 2012
Even Harvard’s students don’t like their Allston plans
A Crimson editorial writer has tough words for the university’s development plans.
March 29, 2012
We love our landlord
The owner of Stone Hearth Pizza, which opened on Western Avenue last November, really likes his landlord, Harvard University. Meanwhile, some Allston residents aren’t happy with the university’s refusal to provide any plans at all for the Charlesview Apartments site it owns. The buildings will be cleared once residents can move into the relocated, and expanded, complex under construction by the Western Ave. Star Market/Shaws. What residents would like to see is an arts and cultural center, originally proposed in 2007, but Harvard is being cagey about that, too.
March 12, 2012
It didn’t start with the Beanpot
The battle between Boston College and Harvard has been going on a while, at least since Harvard decided in 1893 that a Jesuit degree was not enough when it came to applying to law school.
February 15, 2012
That Beauty Factory on the Charles
“Harry, the planning we’ve done led to the approval of Stone Hearth Pizza and Swiss Bakers,” – BRA Chief Planner Kairos Shen
Wow. A dire need has been filled.
Harvard’s presentation Monday night on its plans for the untilled acres it owns in Allston left residents underwhelmed. The lack of a timeline was particularly troubling.
Ah well, if the science center doesn’t work out, they can always fall back on their reputation as that Beauty Factory on the Charles.
UPDATE – A follow-up article in the Crimson cites more dissatisfaction with the university’s plans, this time centered on proposed housing.
February 9, 2012
Yes, Harvard still owns a huge hole in Allston
Paul Alford of Allston urges Mayor Menino to use the same strategy with Harvard that he used with Vornado at the old Filene’s site. Meanwhile, Paul Berkeley, head of the Allston Civic Association, sounds pretty happy with some new businesses on university property along Western Avenue.