McClernon Favors MTA Yard Sale

Thomas J. McClernon, general manager of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, said yesterday afternoon that the M.T.A. may sell its Bennett St. switching and storage yards to the University "in the near future."

The University has long sought the yards, opposite Kirkland and Eliot Houses, as the site of the Tenth House called for in the Program for Harvard College. In recent months, the land has also been suggested as a possible site for the new Kennedy Library.

McClernon said that he "is in favor of giving up the yards," and relocating the MTA storage facilities. The final decision to sell must, however, be made by the MTA's Board of Directors.

$5 Million Once Offered

In the past, the University has reportedly offered as much as $5 million for the yards, but the MTA has consistently refused to relinquish the property.

According to Charles P. Whitlock, assistant to the President for Civic Affairs, the MTA's operating budget and the expense of changing sites have been crucial factors in the refusal to sell the land. In the past few years, however, MTA operations have extended more and more to the south, thus making Cambridge inconvenient as a major storage area.

The MTA is reportedly considering Codman Sq. in Dorchester as the site for most of its switching and storage facilities.

"Although the MTA would retain a small part of the Bennett St. site for storage," McClernon said, "all the land except the present parking lot would be sold." He noted that "the MTA is required to offer the land for public bid but is not required to sell to the highest bidder, and would "probably make the land available to the University."

Once the MTA abandons the Bennett St. yards, which are used for storage of electric buses, it will have to increase substantially the number of diesel buses on its Harvard Sq. runs. Only the diesels can be parked at the MTA facilities just north of Cambridge in Somerville.

City May Object

Another problem facing both Harvard and the MTA is the University's exemption from property taxes. In the past, Cambridge City Councilors have objected to action which would keep the yards off the tax rolls.

The University has, however, offered several times to construct such taxable commercial structures as a garage, an apartment house, or a bank on part of the site.