Harvard Buys Condominium Across Red Line

Deeds on file at the Middlesex County Courthouse show that Harvard violated the letter of its pledge not to acquire property outside the "Daly red line," a self-imposed boundary around existing University property.

Late in August, the University paid $115,652 for a condominium in the "Strathcona on the Charles" complex at 992 Memorial Drive. The University sold the property a few days later to a faculty member who was moving to the area.

Because Harvard did not hold on to the property, Sally Zeckhauser, president of Harvard Real Estate. Inc., said that if the purchase was a violation of the red line, it was such "only in the most technical sense."

"It was the only way that we could get the new faculty member (Jules Brody) the 6 per cent interest rate that we offer under the Cambridge Option plan," Zeckhauser said, referring to the University's latest program for providing financial assistance to faculty members purchasing property in the Cambridge area. "He couldn't be on hand to get the property for a few days," she added.

Zeckhauser said the purchase did not violate the spirit of the agreement, but some Cambridge residents disagreed, since buying the property and holding it for Brody's low interest purchase may have prevented the unit from reaching the open market. "It is yet another example of Harvard's ongoing maneuvering to make it difficult for Cambridge residents to buy property in their city," David Sullivan, a city council candidate, said. "It is only one unit, but it is part of a consistent scheme," Sullivan said, adding "even small violations call into question Harvard credibility."

Sullivan cited Harvard's lease of a building at 18-20 Ware St. as an example of another University deal that violated the red line agreement. Harvard officials have said that the 18-20 Ware St. transaction did not violate the pledge because the University did not actually purchase the property. Furthermore, the officials say they bought the building because of an emergency situation created by subway construction in Harvard Square.

The condominium complex is several blocks beyond the edge of the red line, a fact Zeckhauser said she was aware of when the purchase was made.

The red line was drawn five years ago by University planners in response to community resistance to Harvard's expansion. The only exceptions the University ever anticipated it would make to the pledge, which expires in January, were in the Brattle Street and Western avenue sections of Cambridge St.

Michael Brewer, assistant vice president for government and community affairs, defended the University's record in connection affairs, defended the University's record in connection with the red line. "It was drawn in response to speculative pressure, to make people secure around the edges of Harvard. We have stuck to our guns with the red line," Brewer said, adding that he did not consider the Strathcona purchase a violation of the spirit or the letter of the agreement since it did not involve speculation.

The unit in question was originally owned by Arthur Drinkwater '00, for many years the oldest living Harvard alumnus. Drinkwater died recently, leaving the unit to Harvard, which sold it to Stephen Harrison, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The University bought the condo from Harrison last month.