NASA May Choose Cambridge Site For $56 Million Research Complex

Cambridge has an "excellent chance" of becoming the location of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's new $56 million electronics plant, Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., (D.--Camb.) declared yesterday.

In the past two months, NASA has been investigating sites in the Boston area in order to be near Harvard and M.I.T.

NASA is currently considering three locations in the city, O'Neill said. They are Technology Sq., the city dump, and 25 acres of swampland near the Concord Turnpike.

However, a spokesman for Arthur D. Little, Inc., which owns the swampland jointly with the Metropolitan District Commission, labeled as "fiction" an earlier report that NASA might build on the site.

Mayor Has 'No Doubt'

Meanwhile, Mayor Edward A. Crane '35 stated last night he has "no doubt" that NASA would locate in Cambridge "if we can give them 20 suitable acres." He added that "NASA has been offered any suitable site they can find in the city." The Cambridge City Council has recommended the city dump location.

The Arthur D. Little spokesman said that NASA has not indicated an interest in the swamp tract, which adjoins the company's plant. He blamed "some wishful citizens in West Cambridge" for the "unfounded rumor" that NASA was considering the site.

The land, located one mile from Harvard and three miles from M.I.T., might be available, he added, "if someone wanted to buy it and there was a good selling price." Arthur D. Little is the nation's fourth largest electronics research and development firm.

State Law Obstructs

An obstactle to transfering ownership of the land may lie with the MDC which is obligated by state law to reserve the tract for extension of the Belmont-Arlingon MTA line. Nevertheless, Rep. O'Neill said last night that the law "probably could be taken care of."

In all, 110 proposals for sites have been submitted to NASA by communities in Eastern Massachusetts, according to Mayor Crane. Among the possible sites near Cambridge, two are in Somerville, one is in Watertown, and another is in Brighton, across the street from the projected site of the Kennedy Library.

O'Neill said he expects that NASA will make a final decision in about three weeks.