FAS to Vacate Holyoke Center Offices; Relocation Will Save $350,000 Rent

The six faculty departments currently housed in Holyoke Center will move to new offices by next September in order to cut back on Faculty costs, Richard G. Leahy, associate dean of the Faculty for resources and planning, said yesterday.

"We are anxious to move into buildings owned by the Faculty" itself, rather than to continue paying rent to the University, which owns Holyoke Center, he said.

The six departments--History, History and Literature, Government, Economics, Linguistics, and History of Science--pay a total rent of $350,000 per year to the University.

No Relocation Plan

Francis A. Lawton, assistant for facilities in the faculty, said yesterday that the six departments now housed in Holyoke Center will probably be moved into a renovated building, or possibly into a new building with extra space. However, he said that at this moment, there is no definite plan afoot for relocation, he said.

"At this moment, we're paying a husky rent," said Lawton. "The idea behind the move is to utilize our existing buildings as efficiently as possible."

Four years ago several other Faculty offices--primarily those of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences--moved from Holyoke Center to Byerly Hall. Leahy said that the move was also made to save the Faculty money on rent paid to the University.

Four-Year Continuation

The decision to move from Holyoke Center as of next year, Leahy said, is actually a continuation of the move four years ago.

Nancy Michaels, senior financial analyst of the Real Estate Office, said yesterday that the University is still paying a forty-year mortgage on Holyoke Center and charges high rents to tenants--including the Faculty--because of the mortgage.

"What it costs to run [Holyoke Center] is what we charge toward tenants," she said.

"Holyoke has much more sophisticated facilities than, for example, Burr Lecture 6