Plans for Hotel on Gulf Station Site Unlikely to Change Despite Opposition

Despite opposition from faculty and community leaders, the University is moving closer to its goal of constructing a five-story "limited service" hotel on the Quincy Square site formerly occupied by the Gulf station.

But several obstacles still block Harvard's path. Members of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) want to use the site for a library or office building, and the city is reviewing a zoning proposal that would halt the project.

While University officials have repeatedly stated that plans for the site will not be final until they complete negotiations with FAS, President Bok last week told The Crimson that he will probably not adopt the faculty's recommendations.

"I would be very surprised if in the next few years the faculty office space on that site was very sensible," says Bok, while ceding that better alternatives may exist.

And city residents claim a hotel would ruin the charm of the Square's eastern end. Two weeks ago, the East Harvard Square Neighborhood Association sent the council a petition asking that the area be downzoned for solely residential use. The current zoning allows the University to build commercial facilities up to 80 feet high.

Since six of the nine city councillors must approve zoning changes, the city will probably not act to stop the project.

At a December meeting, the faculty unanimously called on the University to "reconsider its plans for the site." Coolidge Professor of History David S. Landes, the measure's sponsor, said that the proximity of the site to Widener and Lamont Libraries made it "FAS turf."

But Associate Vice President for State and Community Affairs Jacqueline O'Neill says that even if the University alters its plans, FAS may not be able to develop the site.

Traditionally, the faculties of the University are financially self-sufficient under the "every tub on its own bottom" principle. As a result, FAS might have to finance a project on its own.

"FAS may not have the funds to develop the site themselves," says O'Neill.

Several community leaders--but not Harvard offcials--say the success of the hotel project hinges on a related development on the site of the University-owned Harvard Motor Inn. Currently, the city holds a property right, known as an easement, that allows it to operate a municipal parking lot there, preventing new development.

Last week, the council voted 6-3 to alter that easement, clearing the way for a developer to tear down the Inn and replace it with shops and offices.

"Unless the easement goes away, they can't tear down the Harvard Motor Inn," said Peter D. Kinder, vice president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund (HSDF), before last week's vote. "If they don't tear down the Harvard Motor Inn, there's no need for the Quincy Motor Inn."

Other community leaders argue that tearing down the Inn would support O'Neill's contention that "there is not a lot of available, attractive, moderately priced hotel space in the Harvard Square area." But the community would not object if the site were used for academic purposes.