NASA Defends Kendall Sq. Location By Stressing Convenience For Staff

The director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Cambridge research center yesterday defended the choice of Kendall Square for NASA's $61 million, electronics laboratory on the basis of the square's proximity to Harvard and M.I.T.

Opponents have contended that the Watertown Arsenal, to be deactivated soon by the Defense Department, would be a better selection because it would cost the government less money and would not force the relocation of firms now in Kendall Square.

But Winston E. Kock told the Cambridge City Council that "proximity to Harvard and M.I.T. enables recruitment by the center of recent bachelor's degree recipients who wish to continue their education in pursuit of master's and doctoral degrees. [They can] walk to classes at M.I.T. or ride to the Harvard campus in only two subway stops."

"At the Watertown, Arsenal we could not acquire these people," Kock added.

Kock, making his first appearance before the City Council, admitted, however, that a system of commuting between the arsenal and M.I.T. probably could have been worked out. He said that while NASA was selecting the research center's site, there was still "relative indecision as to whether [the arsenal] was going to be phased out" and it was therefore eliminated as a possibility.

"The tremendous concentration of brilliant minds at M.I.T. is going to be the biggest payoff," Kock said, adding that M.I.T. and the research center would probably share some facilities.

Confirming that NASA still wants to begin the first phase of construction this summer, Kock revealed that architects for the research complex will have a master plan ready within "a few weeks."

Along with Albert J. Kelley, the center's deputy director, Kock predicted that the laboratory would attract from 50 to 100 electronics firms to the greater Boston, area and that many of these firms would establish on the 13-acre private development next to NASA's 29 acres, or in nearby Technology Square.

When completed in 1971, the research complex, consisting of 10 research laboratories and a combined engineering and administration building, will employ some 2100 people--900 scientists and researchers, 700 less-skilled technical assistants, and 500 administrative personnal, they said.

Over the next decade, Kelley estimated, the complex's operating costs and salaries will lead to a $450 million induced income effect on the economy of the Boston metropolitan area.