Harvard gives Allston another empty lot

Boston Volkswagen moves from Allston to Watertown - Allston/Brighton TAB

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:11 AM

    when will all this LAND GRABING
    STOP.

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  2. Anonymous11:46 AM

    Not until BC owns the majority of Brighton, and Harvard owns the majority of Allston.

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  3. Anonymous12:32 PM

    I can only wait until the next Task Force meeting and someone makes a comment about the property purchases. I wish Harvard would just come right up front and say to use: "Hey, this is the propertties we are going after and we won't stop until we have every single piece of these properties." Maybe when it does happen the majority of us will be buries and the youngsters will be too old to do anything about it or care."

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  4. Anonymous11:05 PM

    I hate to bring down the mood of this discussion, but are you reading the same article I am? Harvard owned this property for many years and leased it to Boston VW. They gave the tenant over two years to find a new property and even aided in the search to find an alternate location in Allston. That seems to go above and beyond what a landowner should do. I know we are feeling pinched by universities, but we need to choose our battles wisely otherwise we end up sounding like fools.

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  5. Anonymous9:35 AM

    Before we all start patting Harvard on the back the question was asked "when will all this land grabbing stop?", not the conditions to which Harvard made a deal with Boston VW. Harvard may have made the transition with the Boston VW location go smoothly but it doesn't hide the fact that the university is gobbling up land that was once occupied by tax generating entities.

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  6. What's done is done. What will happen next is what interests me. Will the VW building and property sit empty like Harvard's former CITGO station and so many other buildings?

    Having the VW dealer go is no great loss to the community, as far as I am concerned. But another vacant Harvard-owned property makes a bad situation worse. Harvard could do much better than this if it wanted.

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  7. Anonymous8:02 AM

    According to the maps of Harvard's future plans, Harvard is putting part of their new science lab there with retail under it. so we already know what will be there. As far as being glad the VW place is gone, well it's gone now. It was nice to be able to stand in front of a business that was kept up and not trashed or vacant.

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  8. The VW site (168 Western Ave) is not part of the Science Complex site. I've added an image to the original post to show this.

    Also, the Science Complex has a miniscule amount of retail (6,400 square feet) when you consider the size of the project's site (371,365 square feet).

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  9. Anonymous4:03 PM

    ab_resident, You have 2 different situations. BC is not grabbing land like Harvard. Harvard wants to change the landscape of Allston. BC is interested in a small area. You should get together with Alex and pay attention to BC. Why do you say that BC and Harvard want to own the majority of Brighton? Do you have some inside info?

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  10. Anonymous11:30 AM

    The more one whines about "land grabbing", the longer this and other lots sit empty, undeveloped (retail or otherwise), and unattended.

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  11. Anonymous,

    Why do you call the community's response to Harvard's property mothballing "whining"?

    Also, I don't understand the cause-and-effect you suggest, that the vacant buildings are a result of the community's response to Harvard's actions as a landlord. Could you explain this more explicitly?

    Harry

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