Harvard Nears Construction Milestones in Allston Amid Development Boom

Harvard is soon to bring hundreds of new housing units online in Allston as the University approaches several major construction milestones in its long-running expansion across the river.

The new home for the American Repertory Theater at 175 North Harvard St. topped off last month, and is expected to come online next year, adding 276 units of housing for Harvard affiliates. And Harvard expects some of the residential units under construction at the Enterprise Research Campus — a mixed-use district of commercial lab space, shops, and more than 340 apartment units — to be complete this summer.

This year marks a moment of exceptionally high development activity for Harvard, with considerably more than two million square feet of development underway. That includes its four-building ERC, a new ART with the housing complex for Harvard affiliates next door, and another three-building, mixed-use campus for the life sciences next to the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Adding to the building frenzy is a pair of affordable housing developments Harvard is facilitating by donating the land for their construction — as in the case of the 43 condominiums at 65-79 Seattle St. — or by funding their purchase, which it did for the site of a 49-unit senior housing complex at 279 N. Harvard St.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 announced the funding for those projects at the Harvard Ed Portal last month. She also committed to making them zero-emissions through city design standards.

Though Harvard will not play a role in the actual development of either, the two affordable developments are among the community benefits Harvard has committed to provide in order to offset its rapid growth into the neighborhood.

Many new biotech workers brought in by Harvard-linked lab developments, along with graduate students and other affiliates, increase the competition for a limited housing supply in the area. When pressure on the housing market grows, lower-income renters are often the first to feel it, meaning affordable housing is frequently a top demand from Allston residents negotiating benefits from the university.

In negotiating benefits for the first phase of Harvard’s ERC in 2016, residents won a $25 million commitment to fund affordable housing projects over a 12-year period — and a promise to make twenty percent of the new units income-restricted.

But as separate negotiations unfold to approve still more construction on Harvard’s academic campus in Allston, including its sports facilities and the business school, residents are calling on the University to do more.

In a recent letter to Harvard, a city-appointed task force of residents called on the university to increase its support for affordable housing in the area, citing “skyrocketing home prices.”

“We call on Harvard University to take bold and meaningful action by donating a portion of its dormant land holdings in Allston to address Boston’s growing housing crisis and lack of homeownership,” the task force wrote.

While the letter did not include specifics about what or how much land Harvard might donate, such questions are likely to feature prominently in the negotiation over its Institutional Master Plan — which will require the city’s final approval and the support of local representatives.

In their letter, the Harvard Allston Task Force emphasized the institution’s “significant influence on the Allston-Brighton area.” Such influence should be considered “not merely as an economic driver,” they added, “but as a force shaping the cultural, social and physical fabric of the city.”

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.

—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37.