Allston Plan Aims For Local Business Growth

Harvard representatives assured Harvard Allston task force members at Monday’s meeting that the University would collaborate with the neighborhood to use the public parts of Harvard’s planned Allston science complex to encourage the growth of local businesses.

Chief University Planner Kathy A. Spiegelman said the unique design of the complex is “a very important move for Harvard,” since it is a testament to the University’s intention to help revitalize both the economic and social aspects of the Allston community.

Spiegelman said that the approach marks a difference from Harvard’s past building.

“Instead of an academic building being just an academic building, the intention here is to have an academic building that does engage with commercial use on the first floor,” she said.

The Draft Project Impact Report anticipates that the first floor will include 6,000 square feet of retail space, a conference room, an atrium, an outdoor space that may be turned into an eating space if one of the retail spaces is rented out to a restaurant or cafe, and a daycare center that will accommodate around 70 children. Ten to 15 percent of the children will come from the community, and the rest will be children of Harvard affiliates.

In addition, Harvard plans to allocate a space for protests on its property in near the complex, since, according to Spiegelman, some of the studies—including stem cell research—will be of a controversial nature.

Since last November—when the floor plans were last reviewed—the amount of retail space has been reduced. Spiegelman said the decrease in the amount of retail space has occurred because the building’s height has been reduced by a story.

“We don’t think that building can support so much retail activity,” she added.

Members of the task force affirmed that the form and function of the University buildings will have a long-term impact on the community’s development.

“All the hopes are on what this community is going to develop into rests on this science complex,” said task force member Brent Whelan.

Other task force members questioned whether the public spaces in the science complex would be useful to the community at all.

“In the master plan the atrium is designated as public space, but I probably won’t want to be chilling out in the atrium all the time,” said task force member Bruce Houghton. “How do you develop a campus that is going to be separated, but not completely separated?”

Task force member John Cusack also emphasized the importance of the University’s consulting the neighborhood to decide what tenants will eventually occupy the retail space.

“To put this into Harvard’s hands entirely is going to jeopardize the opportunities available to small entrepreneurs,” he said. “We want to figure out not only what kind of retail chains are going to mesh with the community, but we want to encourage that the entrepreneurs of that space are also local.”

Some members of the task force also questioned to what extent the complex’s location would facilitate or discourage the public’s access to the riverfront.

“The space between the buildings will be privately owned by Harvard, maintained by Harvard, but welcoming to the community,” Spiegelman said in response to those concerns. “This is not a recreational area.”

—Staff writer Yelena S. Mironova can be reached at mironova@fas.harvard.edu.