Boston Redevelopment Authority Approves Tata Hall at Harvard Business School

Construction on Tata Hall has gained official approval following a unanimous vote Thursday night by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which oversees city development projects.

Tata Hall is a proposed wing on the Harvard Business School campus that will house classrooms and living accommodations for professionals in the executive education program. The program, according to Michael F. Glavin, who is the deputy director for institutional development, brings thousands of corporate officials from around the world into Boston for short-term education and training programs.

“Tata Hall will enable Harvard Business School to extend and enhance our executive education programs, serving as a magnet for global leaders seeking professional development in today’s evolving business arena,” Business School Dean Nitin Nohria said in a statement.

Glavin echoed Nohria’s statement, saying that he expects the facility to “allow The Harvard Business School to maintain its competitive advantage in the field of education.”

The $100 million project—funded in part by a $50 million donation from Tata Trusts and Companies, a philanthropic wing of the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata Group—is slated to begin construction in December and will include 180 beds, two classrooms, and three social spaces.

The building will be constructed as an arch to create an effect “almost like opening welcoming arms to the city,” according to William Rawn, the owner of the architectural firm William Rawn Associates, which designed the building.

Large window panels will line the bottom half of the building to celebrate the “openness to the city that really reflects the openness of the executive education program,” Rawn said.

The 150,000-square-foot project—slated for completion in December 2013—will be located on the northeast corner of the Business School’s campus to help connect the Harvard and Allston communities, Glavin said.

Glavin added that as response to a letter the Harvard Allston Task Force sent to the BRA earlier this month, local residents will be given employment priority for the 210 constructions jobs that the project is expected to create. Task Force members also suggested that the construction project create more green space and safer pathways near the Charles. As a result, construction will include a pedestrian pathway that connects Tata Hall and the apartments at One Western Avenue.

Mark Handley, chief of staff for City Councilman Mark Ciommo, spoke in favor of the project, saying that the Allston and Brighton communities “welcome this ten million dollar improvement.”

“I’m please that Harvard heard our ongoing calls,” Handley added.

—Staff writer Nathalie R. Miraval can be reached at nmiraval@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction.

CORRECTION: SEPT. 16, 2011

The Sept. 16 article "Boston Redevelopment Authority Approves Tata Hall at Harvard Business School" incorrectly stated the estimated cost of the project. It is $100 million, not $100,000.