BC To Expand Into Brighton

At the same time that Harvard is making plans to expand across the river, Boston College (BC) is preparing to expand across the street.

BC will invest $700 million over the next 10 years in the construction of a new complex of buildings across Commonwealth Avenue from its main campus, the college announced Wednesday.

As in Harvard’s Allston development plans, BC is putting interdisciplinary science at the center of its expansion.

BC’s new Brighton campus will feature an integrated science complex designed to facilitate research spanning multiple fields, as well as facilities for the fine arts, a university center, a recreation complex, and housing for 610 undergraduate students currently living off-campus.

Michael J. Naughton, the chair of BC’s physics department, said that the administration’s plans to promote “intentional, accidental encounters between scientists of different disciplines” could improve the creative output of the college’s scientists.

“Proximity effect is real,” said Naughton, who said he was one of the first faculty members to push for the new complex.

For BC students, a major component of the plan is the college’s goal of providing on-campus housing to more than 600 students who would otherwise live in residential neighborhoods.

BC junior Albert Meng said that he preferred living off-campus due to relaxed regulations, but that students sometimes experience friction with their neighbors.

“I have friends who have definitely gotten in trouble, whether for noise or what I don’t know,” he said.

Brighton residents have supported the plan to move more students from next-door apartments to housing under the college’s watchful eye, according to BC Director of Public Affairs John B. Dunn.

“They realize that students are better behaved and better managed when they are on campus under university supervision,” Dunn said. “Taking 610 students out of the community and bringing them onto campus, we think will be a major community benefit.”

Jessica Shumaker, spokesperson for the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), an independent agency which reviews construction projects in Boston, said that negotiations between BC and the surrounding community are ongoing.

“The communities want to have a real discussion in terms of how they use the land,” she said.

BC submitted its plans to the agency this week.

Construction on Harvard’s Allston science complex is slated to begin this spring.