Motel Planned for Memorial Drive To Handle JFK Library Visitors

A 15-story motor hotel will be constructed on Memorial Drive at the corner of Pleasant Street, the Harvard Trust Company and Sage Hotel Corporation announced yesterday.

The two-million dollar motel, completely financed by the Harvard Trust, is expected to open early in 1968 on the 1.5 acre site formerly occupied by Richards Drive-In Restaurant. It will contain 203 guest rooms, a 200-seat restaurant, a rooftop swimming pool, and a two-level parking lot.

Robert Sage, speaking for a six-man investor syndicate, said that a twin tower and more parking facilities may be added on top of the parking lot in 1972-1975. The additional construction will depend on the anticipated traffic demand of the Kennedy Library Complex, he said.

Approximately two million people are expected to visit the Kennedy Library its first year.

The Brookline architectural firm of Salsberg and LeBlanc designed the building, to be called the Fenway-Cambridge Motor Hotel. It will consist of seven wings, each overlooking the curved Charles River, according to architect Irving Salsberg.

Salsberg said the tower will be constructed with "Harvard-styled old brick," concrete, and glass. "It should integrate well with both the old and new dormitories at Harvard," he added.

Salsberg has also designed Fenway motor hotels next to Northeastern University and Colgate University.

The two-million dollar financing arrangement by Harvard Trust Company represents the largest single commitment of its kind in the bank's 106-year history.

Alfred Clifford, vice president and real estate officer of the Harvard Trust, said that the excellent location was what sold the bank on the idea. The motel will be directly accessible from the Cambridge-Allston exit of the Massachusetts Turn-pike extension.

"The Kennedy Library will surely increase the need for motel facilities," Clifford said, "but there was already a growing demand in Cambridge." The main problem has been land, he added.

The Fenway-Cambridge, the sixth new motor hotel to be constructed in Cambridge since World War II, will raise the City's hotel capacity to 1,421 rooms.