Harvardview Apartments

After three years of negotiation, the fate of the Charlesview Apartments finally looks close to being sealed. Barring unforeseen difficulties, Harvard will buy the apartment complex, a low-income housing development overlooking Harvard’s Allston athletic facilities at the corner of North Harvard St. and Western Ave. In return, Harvard will rebuild the apartments on a plot of land it owns further west along Western Ave., at the current site of the Brighton Mills Shopping Center. While development could progress on Harvard’s existing Allston holdings without this land swap, we believe that any future campus across the river with a five-acre lacuna at its heart would ultimately be second-best. This triangular plot is crucial to Harvard’s vision of reinvigorating the intersection known as “Barry’s Corner.”