Construction Slows in Square As Recession's Effects Linger

The sounds of life in Harvard Square--that is, the grinding of jackhammers and the buzz of drills--have dulled in recent years, another victim of the recession.

But construction never really stops in Harvard Square. This fall, the building and remodeling continues, albeit not as noticeably and perhaps not as noisily as in the Yard this summer.

A four-story high-rise is nearly completed on Bow St. A Rhythm and Blues club on Winthrop St. is almost finished and due to open in November. And the granddaddy of Square high-rises, Holyoke Center, will soon be getting a makeover.

Some big projects are on hold, though, most notably the long-rumored plan to tear down the Harvard Manor House and replace it with a retail and office building.

Harvard Square developers are still whetting their appetites for heavy construction, but the experience of One Brattle Square may have turned their stomachs a bit.

The 95,000 square-foot retail and office behemoth, home to The Limited and British record store chain HMV, sent its developer, Ivanhoe Ltd. Partnership, into bankruptcy. One Brattle Square was sold in foreclosure auction this summer for $30 million to Sumitomo Trust, the Japanese bank that financed the building, according to John P. DiGiovanni, vice president of Trinity Property Management.

Ivanhoe had failed to rent thousands of square feet of office space and some retail space on the first floor. By the time the building opened its doors last fall, it was destined for foreclosure.

The project was badly hurt, Harvard Square developers and brokers argue, by a six-year battle with local residents over the size and scope of the building. The project did not break ground until early 1990. By then the recession had set in, and the Massachusetts Miracle was a distant memory.

Things are beginning to look up for One Brattle Square, however. Andrew Mauch of Whittier Properties, which manages the building, estimates "the office space will be leased up by the end of the year." Two computer outfits and a medical industry advertising firm have leased space, and Mauch says deals are nearly set on the final two offices.

Two retail spots on the first floor remain glaringly empty, and DiGiovanni believes it may be more than a decade before the project ever shows a profit. DiGiovanni did add, though, that Sumitomo has the staying power necessary to wait out the bad times.

Holyoke Revisited

Long-considered one of Harvard Square's largest eyesores, the monolithic Holyoke Center will be getting a bit of a facelift, according to Dianne Dyslan, spokesperson for Harvard Real Estate, which is managing the development.

Dyslan says the renovations will improve the look of the arcade and the shops around the ground floor. The plans are not complete, though, and there is no word yet whether the building's facade, which looms over the heart of the Square, will change.

Boosting Bow

When the Bicycle Exchange moved out of its decades-old Bow Street home, it left a street which many consider to be one of the Square's least attractive areas.

Omni Travel, however, is hoping to give Bow Street a new, upgraded look. It has razed the old Bicycle Exchange building this summer and built a four-story headquarters for its Cambridge operation.

One of the developers, Eric Rodine of Line Company Architects, says the new structure will remedy the bleak impression of Bow Street.

The old building was too low, he says, causing the walker's eye to roam over the roof to the buildings in the rear, rather than straight down the street to the plaza in front of St. Paul's Church.

"It made Bow Street fall apart as a tight facade," Rodine says.

Rodine says the new building will alter the streetscape, as Bow Street will now act like a tunnel between St. Paul's plaza and Quincy Square.

He added that there are also plans in the works by other agencies to develop Quincy Square, in a further attempt to beautify the eastern side of Harvard Square.

The Omni Travel building, originally scheduled to open on Labor Day, will not be finished until November, according to Csilla Jacobson, owner of Omni Travel.