Tenants Accuse Harvard of Cover-Up

Tenants of a Harvard-owned building last night charged that the University is trying to cover up the illegal use of an apartment in the structure, a charge which Harvard officials simultaneously denied.

A special hearing is set for tomorrow morning to determine whether a camera shop has been using a Harvard rent-controlled apartment for commercial use. City law forbids rent-controlled units from being leased for non-residential purposes without a special permit from the city.

Residents in the building, located at 1306 Mass. Ave. across from Widener Library, now say that Harvard is trying to make it appear as if someone is living in the apartment.

Tenants said the name of the camera shop was replaced yesterday with the name of the store's owner and charged that the move is a Harvard ploy to conceal the misuse of its property.

"Now [Harvard's] being cute and pretending that Mr. Ferranti lives there. That's ridiculous," one tenant said last night, referring to the owner of the Ferranti-Dege camera shop.

Harvard Real Estate President Sally E. Zeckhauser said last night that she was unaware of the name change and denied that it was done by Harvard.

"This is not a Harvard scheme," Zeckhauser said. She said that Harvard agrees that the store is occupying a rent-controlled unit illegally and plans to evict it.

Apartment Misuse

Tenants at 1306 Mass. Ave. claimed last fall that Ferranti-Dege was illegally using residential apartments in the building. Residents complained of the blatant transportation of supplies from the unit to the shop below.

Asserting that it had been aware of any wrongdoing before, Harvard in March filed an eviction petition to remove Ferranti-Dege from apartment 209.

"Until the tenants brought it to our attention, we didn't know anything about it since we don't go around checking," said Zeckhauser. "Now that it's come to our attention that it is not being used for residential use, it's our feeling that they should not be a tenant."

Another apartment in the building belonging to J. August Co.--which runs a clothing shop on the first floor--was under investigation for similar misuse, but hearings in that case have been postponed indefinitely.

Name Changes

The directory board listing for Ferranti-Dege's apartment 209 was changed from "Ferranti-Dege" to "A. C. Ferranti." Anthony C. Ferranti owns the camera store.

In addition, the listing for apartment 309 was changed from "J. August" to "D. Baron." There appeared to be no other alterations.

Tenant activist Michael A. Turk said he believes that the alterations on the directory board constitute attempts by Harvard to give itself justification for claims that it was unaware the apartments were being used commercially.

"It has aspects of cover up," Turk said. "It is an effort to cover up what has happened, to cover up the violation."

After Harvard filed eviction papers with the Cambridge Rent Control Board, Ferranti-Dege filed a petition for a permit to remove apartment 209 from the city's stringent rent-control restrictions. Such a permit would allow the unit to be used for commercial purposes.

An Attorney for Ferranti-Dege said that the store is trying to transfer the rent-controlled status of apartment 209 to an apartment at 8 Plympton St., another Harvard-owned apartment building. The camera shop moved from 8 Plympton where it was using apartment space as an office upstairs from the store.

The store's counsel said that because the old office was exempt from rent control, Ferranti-Dege hopes to transfer the rent control status of its 1306 Mass. Ave. apartment to its old one at its previous location.

But that move has come under attack by Turk, a member of the Cambridge Rent Control Coalition. Turk yesterday filed a petition with the Rent Control Board stating that Ferranti-Dege's request to remove its unit from rent control should be dismissed.