Councillor Proposes Urban Renewal To Guide MBTA Yard Development

The chairman of the City Council's special committee on the Bennett St. MBTA Yards wants to turn the 12-acre area into an urban-renewal project.

Councillor Daniel J. Hayes Jr. would like the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority--with the aid of Federal urban-renewal funds--to acquire the Yards from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and then resell the area to the developer who could assure "the highest and best use" of the land.

His main criterion for land usage is prospective tax returns to the City, but he also believes that any development in the Yards must be compatible with present uses of the Harvard Square area.

In an interview yesterday, Hayes indicated that the University stands an "excellent" chance of acquiring the Yards and, in fact, is probably the "number-one prospect."

Hayes' committee has requested a meeting with the trustees of the MBTA to discuss the Bennett St. Yards, and the Councillor is hoping for a conference sometime in December.

Construction in Early 1966

He said yesterday that if talks proceed smoothly, the Redevelopment Authority might be able to purchase the Yards this spring or summer. He estimated that it would take about six months for the Authority to advertise for bids and finally accept a developer for the Yards. If the entire process is completed quickly, construction in the Yards might begin as early as the spring of 1966, he said.

Hayes envisions that development in the Yards would include a high rise office-building, a large number of underground parking spaces, and perhaps some apartments. These uses would net the city a large tax return, and Hayes believes that if properly developed, the Yards will provide the city with $1 to $1.5 million in revenue a year.

He praised a previous city agreement with the University, under which Harvard would assure Cambridge that most of the Yards would be developed with tax-paying uses if the University acquired the area.

It has been widely reported that the Kennedy family might want the Yards for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library instead of the proposed site in Brighton adjoining the Business School. Hayes said that he hopes the Library would not take the entire 12 acres and that even then the site could be developed to include tax-paying buildings.

The now-defunct Metropolitan Transit Authority offered the Yards for sale two years ago, when the University and several private developers actually submitted bids. The sale collapsed, however, when the MTA was unable to move the Yards' repair facilities to a site in Dorchester.

Now the MBTA is also considering moving the Yards' facilities. Hayes said that his committee will discuss with MBTA officials the possibility of extending subway service from Harvard Square into North Cambridge. If a new Cambridge line is approved, the MBTA would probably move the Yards to North Cambridge.

If the new line is not approved, however, Hayes thinks that the MBTA will eventually sell the air-rights over the Yards' repair facilities.