On the WBUR program RadioBoston, the Mayor and Director of the BRA just were asked flat-out if Harvard is landbanking. They said no. Their Chief Planner thought otherwise a couple months ago when interviewed by ArchitectureBoston
Kairos Shen: It’s true that most institutions are landowners far beyond the boundaries of their actual campus. There’s a great deal of land banking going on. When you think about how much land Harvard owns, and that approximately only a third of it is part of its new campus, the biggest question that the community has is, what is Harvard, whose core mission is not real estate development, going to do with it? What kind of leases will it give, and how will it accommodate the existing patterns of land use?
Seems like the mayor wants to have it both ways. He sent the letter to Harvard as they mentioned on the show but then he made this blatantly incorrect comment in Harvard's defense.
ReplyDeleteBut overall I think it was a good show, and the neighborhood was well represented by Harry and the caller from Allston.