All the Usual Suspects

Berklee rethinks expansion
Forgoes disputed plan, seeks to buy other parcel
Globe Staff / December 21, 2007
In the face of strong neighborhood opposition, Berklee College of Music is shelving plans for a high-rise dormitory and theater complex at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street and is instead seeking to buy a parcel from a neighboring church to divide its expansion into smaller parts.

The Back Bay college was poised to file long-range plans with city officials for a 35-story, approximately $200 million building to house some 600 students, but recently tabled the proposal. Instead, the college has made an offer on a quarter-acre tract from St. Cecilia Parish so it can build two smaller developments that are more to the neighbors' liking.
"The college needs to grow, but the only land we have is at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Boylston," said David Hornfischer, Berklee's senior vice president for administration and finance. "It's not like we have 40 acres out back like Babson or Bentley [colleges] might have. The St. Cecilia site couldn't be a better location, and would give us the room to build two smaller-scale buildings."

Hornfischer said St. Cecilia's decision to sell part of its property, coupled with neighborhood opposition, led the college to drop the high-rise dorm plans for now. The proposed dormitory, which would replace the Berklee Performance Center and a two-story academic building, would help the 4,000-student college double the size of its campus over the next decade and provide housing for half its student body.

Back Bay and Fenway neighbors said they were pleased Berklee had put the high-rise plans on hold and urged college officials not to revisit them. The building would be out of scale with the neighborhood, they said.

"I think they got the message," said Susan Ashbrook, a Back Bay resident and cochairwoman of a community task force that has been reviewing Berklee's preliminary plans over the past year. "It was made very clear to them they would have a fight on their hands if they built anything as big as they were floating."

Several other colleges in the Boston area have announced plans for expansions, including Boston College, Harvard University, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. In all three cases, neighbors are fighting aspects of the proposals.

State Representative Martha Walz, who represents the Back Bay and is a task force member, said the 35-story plan was "unacceptable to the Back Bay and Fenway communities." She urged Berklee to explore other options, including building over the Massachusetts Turnpike.
"All those uses, at that height and that location is inappropriate," she said, referring to the high-rise dorm plan. "We think there's a tremendous opportunity to develop over the turnpike and that's what we've been strongly urging them to pursue. Let's spread out the uses so it's an appropriate scale."

Hornfischer said building on top of the Turnpike was a complicated process requiring a range of government approvals that would take years, an untenable prospect for a college that needs to expand soon.

He said that in addition to the church property, the college is looking into acquiring several parcels along Massachusetts Avenue as alternatives to the high-rise plan, but has not ruled out that proposal despite the task force's opposition. "That's our fallback position," he said.
Hornfischer said the college's plans were tentative and subject to change as circumstances dictate. He said the original expansion plan, which includes a theater, performance space, and practice rooms, needs to be realized in some form.

"This is critical to the college," he said. "It's just a matter of figuring out the best way to do it."
Jackie Yessian, chairwoman of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, praised the college for heeding neighborhood concerns and exploring alternatives to the high-rise plan. "They are trying really hard to meet their needs and ours as well," she said.
Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.