Harvard Endowment Woes Spur Protests Over Vacant Properties

Bloomberg reporter John Lauerman takes a look at the Charlesview project and Harvard's refusal to allow development on many of its vacant properties in Allston and Brighton. It is encouraging to learn that the Charlesview Board and other neighbors are agreeing on more as this process continues:

Charlesview board chairman Rev. Samuel Johnson, who is also pastor of the Community United Methodist Church, said he thinks Harvard should commit to developing its Allston holdings.

“I would hope that they would very soon -- quickly -- say how they plan to use the land and in writing pledge some of the land, particularly strategic pieces, to be used for housing and open space, in this area,” he said.

But unfortunately Harvard still doesn't get it. Planning and development of the KMart / OfficeMax portion of Brighton Mills cannot be seperated from all of Harvard's other adjacent and under-utilized property.

The [Charlesview] swap deal and housing project should be evaluated separately from development of Harvard’s other holdings in the district, Harvard’s McCluskey said. Developing Harvard’s land is “a longer-term, broader, much more complex process to engage in than focusing on this particular effort,” he said in an interview at the meeting.