Harvard rethinks museum move!

Harvard rethinks museum move - The Boston Globe: "The Harvard University Art Museums is reconsidering plans to turn a former bank building in Allston into its temporary home when it closes the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger museums for renovation in 2008.
HUAM may still renovate and move into the former Citizens Bank building, at 1380 Soldiers Field Road. But a feasibility study has shown that the project, announced in February, is more complicated than originally believed. So a second building, at 224 Western Ave. in Allston, is being considered.

Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for Harvard's Allston Development Group, said Harvard hopes to pick between the two sites within a month.

The original plan called for housing the majority of the 250,000 objects in the university's collection at the former bank building. At 25,000 square feet, the second site is less than a third the size of the former Citizens Bank building. To use it, Harvard would need to expand it or build an additional structure."

Wow! The Harvard Task Force and 100+ people had a meeting with Harvard last night and there was no mention of this!I thought we were going to get a great museum of significant size on Western Ave (at the Citizens Bank building). 224 Western Ave (the "Verizon" building next to Dukin Donuts) that abuts several residential homes on Franklin Street and is not the place for a major art facility that Harvard has told us is coming to Allston.