Land Harvard owns beyond the boundary of its 50 year plan

Crimson Tide - Boston Business Journal: Campus is just one part of Harvard's Allston plans

I almost choked when I read this:

"We have the potential to be really good stewards of property," said Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for Harvard's Allston expansion. She added, "I think most people, if you go on Western Avenue, would agree that there are lots of opportunities for improvements. And the message I hear from people in the community and business people is, 'Get to it. Don't let it languish.' "

So when is Harvard going to get to it? How many more years will you continue to let Western Ave and other parts of our neighborhood rot away?

"While we would never encourage Harvard or any other institution to acquire property simply for the purpose of land-banking it, it's not a terrible situation ... to be dealing with a smaller number of landowners as we talk about redevelopment of this whole area," said Gerald Autler, the BRA senior project manager assigned to Harvard's expansion into Allston.

And actually, some people in Allston do think it is a terrible situation to be dealing with one major landowner who shows no interest in redeveloping this huge stretch of land in middle of our neighborhood.