University Place Plan Wins City, Neighborhood Approval

Harvard won support from the Cambridge historical commission and local residents yesterday for a compromise plan to save two buildings on the site of its proposed $25-million University Place, clearing the way for Corporation approval of the massive condominium and office complex later this month.

The historical commission accepted without objection the University's plan to preserve the "historically significant" buildings at 134 Mt. Auburn St. and 3 Mt. Auburn Place which Harvard last month asked for permission to demolish.

Yesterday's commission meeting was Harvard's final opportunity to reach a satisfactory compromise on the design of University Place, Harvard officials said, because of a self-imposed end-of-January deadline.

The commercial housing and office development faces its last obstacle January 18 when the Corporation considers whether to proceed with the two-year-old plans for what would be Harvard Square's second-largest business complex.

The commission, which is empowered only to block the demolition of historically significant structures, had no authority to reject Harvard's proposal to leave the building at 134 Mt. Auburn St. undisturbed at its present location and to at least temporarily relocate within the neighborhood the house at 3 Mt. Auburn Place.

But University officials had said recently that a compromise which would satisfy local residents' concern for the neighborhood across from the Mt. Auburn St. post office as well as Harvard's desire for a fair return on its investment was necessary by the time of yesterday's meeting.

If the Corporation rejects the University Place plans at its January 18 meeting, the property, now held by Harvard and used as a parking lot, would return to its previous owner, Harvard officials said.

Harvard bought the property--the largest remaining parcel of undeveloped land in the Square--from Louis DiGiovanni in February 1980 for $4 million. But a private agreement between DiGiovanni and the University stipulates that the land would revert to DiGiovanni in the event that a satisfactory design had not been reached by January 24, University officials said.

Robin Schmidt, vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday although Corporation approval of the compromise plan is not guaranteed, yesterday's agreement was "very significant."

Harvard officials told the historical commission they will try to relocate the 3 Mt. Auburn Place building to an unspecified site within the neighborhood and if unsuccessful, return the house to its current location after construction is completed.

"We've made a bottom-line promise to return the neighborhood to the status quo," Schmidt said.

Assuming Harvard receives a building permit--which it will initially request from the city today--" I will be very optimistic" that the University will proceed with the project, Schmidt said.

About 40 neighborhood residents attending yesterday's commission meeting broke into applause when Donal Lang, one of the residents who has negotiated with the University during the past month, thanked Harvard for its cooperation.

And Tudor C. Ingersoll, head of the residents' negotiating committee, said the agreement was "terrrific. The neighbors are all breathing a sigh of relief." Ingersoll said.

He added that "a major worry" of local residents has been that DiGiovanni would again acquire ownership of the University Place property and create a design for a different commercial project that would be less sensitive to neighborhood concerns.

Harvard did not use the prospect of the property reverting to DiGiovanni as a negotiating wedge, Ingersoll said. "They [Harvard] were scared about it the same as we were," he said.

But Cambridge Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55, a member of the community advisory group on University Place, said the end of January deadline "possibly" gave a subtle everage in favor of Harvard's plans.

And one neighborhood activist, who asked to remain unidentified, said DiGiovanni's involvement "has always been lurking in the back of our minds."

Harvard officials have repeatedly emphasized that they were asked by city officials to buy the University Place property in order to prevent construction of a complex that angered the Mt. Auburn St. neighbors.

Before DiGiovanni sold the property--part of his extensive holdings in the Square--two years ago, he had reportedly considered constructing twin high-rise apartment buildings in the site.

Harvard's design for about 85 luxury condominiums no more than 80 feet high and 200,000 square feet of non-academic office space in six-story buildings "deliberately throws away about one-third of the potential income" on the site.

Because of the latest design modifications submitted to the historical commission, a small portion of the condominiums originally planned may now have to be dropped. Schmidt said.

He declined to estimate whether those changes would significantly affect the project's capacity to generate an acceptable profit, saying that the necesary calculations have not yet been completed