Harvard Buys Waterhouse St. House In Apparent Pact Violation With City

Harvard, acting in apparent violation of a 1974 agreement with Cambridge not to buy property in Cambridge outside set boundaries, last month purchased a $120,000 home at 7 Waterhouse St.

Deeds on file at Middlesex County Courthouse in Cambridge show that Harvard purchased the property September 10 from Ernst Kitzinger, University Professor, and Margaret Susan Kitzinger.

Waterhouse St. is outside the Red Line boundary for University expansion Harvard agreed to in a 1974 report to the community. At the time, Harvard officials promised that "neither Harvard University nor its agents will buy residential property in Cambridge until at least 1980" outside the boundaries.

Harvard Real Estate (HRE) officials said yesterday the purchase did not clearly violate the agreement because they had originally sold the home to Kitzinger and had retained an option to buy.

"We sold the house subject to buying it back." S. Michael Hawe, treasurer of HRE said yesterday. "When the Red Line was drawn, we had an interest in the building," he added.

Harvard could have decided not to exercise the option to buy, HRE president Sally Zeckhauser said yesterday. She added, however, "We always intended to buy it back."

"I don't think that the Red Line has ever meant anything to them," City Councilor Mary Ellen Preusser said yesterday.

Calling the purchase a "definite violation" of the Red Line, Preusser added that "the one thing I will say for them is that at least this time they did call the city manager to tell him they were doing it."

Earlier this year, Harvard purchased a condominium unit that once belonged to Arthur Drinkwater '00 in an area outside the Red Line. They sold that property to another faculty member and will do the same with the Waterhouse St. home, Zeckhauser said.