Harvard Slated to Start Construction at 8-10 Mt.Auburn Street, May Purchase, Renovate Radcliffe-Owned Concord Ave. Site

Harvard University, the largest real estate owner in Cambridge, is considering the purchase of an acre of property near Harvard Square from Radcliffe College.

Radcliffe will be putting the property, 245 Concord Avenue, on the market after agents currently examining the land complete their appraisal, said Louis R. Morrell, financial vice president and treasurer of Radcliffe.

"We wrote a letter to Radcliffe expressing our interest in the property," said Sally Zeckhauser, president of Harvard Real Estate. "At this point it is not clear where the negotiations are going. We have to sit down and talk, and see if it is a fair price," she said.

Radcliffe is planning to sell the land because they have purchased another property on 34-42 Concord Avenue and because they feel that the land is no longer needed, said Morrell.

"We bought the property years ago, from a taxicab company, and used it to house the Radcliffe Building and Grounds Department," said Morrell. "But it's not used for that purpose anymore, and some of it is just empty warehouses."

Currently the land houses a branch of the Cambridge Public Library, a pottery studio, storage space, and a parking lot, said Morrell.

"It's a valuable piece of property," said Morrell, "but it is not being used as well as it could be, and depreciates in value, as all housing does, so it would be more profitable for Radcliffe to sell it."

Radcliffe has not contacted other perspective buyers because of an agreement between the two colleges which gives Harvard the right of first refusal on all property the school sells.

Zeckhauser is not entirely sure what Harvard may want to use the property for and said that the university would have to look at the land more closely.

"We probably want to do housing of some kind, zoned housing or something residential," said Zeckhauser. "I doubt that it will be used as offices or labs," she added.

Robert A. Silverman, Harvard director of planning, said that Harvard may be able to use the land, but he does not consider it a critically important site.

"The most popular place is Cambridge; we always have people looking for office space and places to live," said Zeckhauser. "This is a sizeable piece of property, so we have to look at it further."