Conference Center, Hotel on Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus To Officially Open to Public in January

The Atlas Hotel and Treehouse Conference Center at Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus will formally open in January, confirming Harvard’s vision for entrepreneurship and STEM research amid its continuous expansion into Allston.

The David Rubenstein Treehouse, Harvard’s new three-story mass timber conference center, began receiving inquiries earlier this year. Upcoming events at the Treehouse will include a two-day conference on neoliberalism hosted by the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School and a town hall hosted by the AI firm DAIMLAS.

The building’s third floor houses its main space, called Canopy Hall, which can hold roughly 600 people. Smaller rooms occupy its second floor, meant for breakout sessions for conference attendees. Members of the public will be able to access its ground floor, consisting of a coffee shop and seating area.

The Allston facility is Harvard’s first university-wide conference center. Sean Caron, the Vice President of Campus Services, said that booking will prioritize University-affiliates.

“We built the space for the university primarily,” Caron said. “Having faculty members host symposia here on their research, having student groups come who want to use the space, using it to celebrate the university’s work, is the primary motivation.”

He said that space for private groups will be a “second priority.”

But the Treehouse is currently fully booked until the end of the year. It will be managed by Common Spaces, which operates Smith Campus Center. Its director, Julie Crites, advised student groups to book the space months in advance to have the highest chance of securing a space.

The space also comes with a price tag — even for student groups. Crites said that pricing will remain consistent with Smith Campus Center’s conference suite. She estimated a half-day in Canopy Hall to cost roughly $2000, excluding additional food or drink costs.

Part of the ERC also includes the Atlas Hotel, which will open in January, with nightly rates starting at $314. The hotel is sixteen stories tall and includes 246 guestrooms. Its services will include a fitness center, rooftop bar, private event spaces, and ground-level restaurant called Ama at the Atlas.

The Harvard COOP will also occupy 1500 square feet on the Atlas Hotel’s ground level. According to Jodi H. Goldstein, its CEO, the store will sell a mix of Harvard, MIT and unbranded merchandise.

Ama at the Atlas, which opens on January 19, is co-owners Nyacko P. Perry and Biplaw K. Rai’s second restaurant. The two currently own and run the Dorchester-based restaurant Comfort Kitchen, which serves African and Asian fusion dishes.

The new restaurant, located on the first floor of the Atlas Hotel, will remain open throughout the day. It is named after the Nepali word ama, meaning mother, in honor of Rai’s own mother. Perry said that she hopes the restaurant will encourage conversation about “caregivers and nurturers and how we can acknowledge them, especially in the food industry.”

“The food industry is a caregiver profession, and also doesn’t get the same regard, respect that I feel it deserves,” Perry said.

Perry and Rai will also operate the hotel’s rooftop bar when it opens in late spring.

Other sections of the ERC opened earlier in the year — including Verra Apartments, which began renting units over the summer. The campus also includes One Milestone, which will rent office and lab space to the public.

Caron expects Allstonway, a plaza between the Treehouse, Verra, and lab space, to open in the spring. The outdoor space will include a water feature and host programming for the general public, which Caron said is meant to welcome residents into the ERC.

“How do you think about all of the disciplines around innovation and creativity coming together? Then how do you expand the spheres of that so more and more people get to participate in private industry, in the community and in the university?” Caron said.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.

—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37.