Harvard-Allston Task Force Shifts Focus to Benefits

With the approval of Harvard’s Institutional Master Plan two weeks ago, the Harvard-Allston Task Force is now shifting its focus to finalizing a community benefits package linked to the IMP. Simultaneously, Harvard is preparing for the development of the residential and retail complex at Barry’s Corner, the intersection of Western Ave. and North Harvard Street.

Although the BRA board approved the University’s nine-project, ten-year plan two weeks ago, members of the BRA emphasized that the IMP is a long-term zoning document that does not examine the impact of each project in the plan. Kevin Casey, associate vice president for public affairs and communications, said that each project will receive individual review before its construction.

The Barry’s Corner project, which received approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority last April, will begin a 30-day site-preparation period in December. After this preparatory period, buildings on the current site will be demolished to open space for the facility that will include 325 housing units and over 40,000 square feet of retail space.

Leslie G. Cohen, senior vice president for Samuels & Associates—the firm charged with constructing the retail and residential commons—said that she did not think that this demolition process will unduly disturb the community.

Cohen also said that Samuels & Associates plans to break ground in early spring. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy by the fall of 2015.

“How that project goes off is going to show a ton of people that these things can go well,” said John Cusack, a member of the task force.

Cusack spoke of the excitement some Allston residents feel over breaking ground on development projects that have been in the planning stage for years.

“That was a really hard thing in the neighborhood when [construction on Harvard’s science complex] stopped,” he said, referring to President Drew G. Faust’s decision to pause construction of a billion-dollar science complex in Allston in 2009.

Cusack said he sees the Samuels project as an important test that could instill confidence from the community for Harvard’s future construction projects.

“It’s going to be one heck of a white elephant if that doesn’t [go well],” Cusack said.

John A. Bruno, another task force member, expressed the need to address the potential infrastructural strain of the influx of residents to Barry’s Corner. Bruno also mentioned the importance of including housing in the community benefits package associated with the University’s approved IMP.

He said that people have a greater stake in the community with home ownership, although he raised the need to include affordable housing and rentals in a community benefits proposal.

A revised community benefits proposal is due to BRA by Nov. 20 for board review. The task force’s proposal will respond to a $28 million community benefits package Harvard put forward earlier this month.

—Staff writer Marco J. Barber Grossi can be reached at mbarbergrossi@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @marco_jbg.