Mayor Thomas M. Menino signs the final steel beam before it is hoisted to form Boston University’s Student Village.
Under blue skies and frigid temperatures, Mayor Thomas M. Menino was among the guests at a topping-off ceremony last week for a 960-bed dormitory at Boston University.
Officials celebrated placement of the final steel beam that will form the building’s highest elevation. For BU, the observance brings the second phase of the school’s Student Village closer to reality. Occupancy is expected in 2009 for the 19- and 26-story buildings, which will feature air-conditioned student apartments with sweeping views of the Charles River and Boston’s skyline.
BU is not alone in creating more student housing. A mini building boom is under way in Boston as colleges and universities scramble to construct dormitories. In 1995, Menino challenged schools to move more students onto their campuses as a way to manage student behavior and keep apartments affordable to the public. Today, 2,500 dorm rooms are under construction, with another 1,226 in the pipeline.
In October, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved Suffolk University’s plans to redevelop the historic Modern Theatre at 523-525 Washington St. in downtown Boston. The school is building a 12-story addition containing up to 200 dorms. Suffolk also plans to incorporate cultural uses on the ground floor that will be available for students and the public. Those uses include a 2,400-square-foot theater and an 800-square-foot art gallery space.
The Modern project follows the city’s approval of Suffolk’s request to convert 10 West St. in Downtown Crossing into student apartments and suites containing 274 dorms with ground-floor retail.
Last summer, the BRA gave the go-ahead for Emerson College’s plan to rehab the upper floors of the Colonial Theatre to make way for a 364-bed residence hall at 98-108 Boylston St.
The renovation allows Emerson to fulfill their plans to consolidate their campus and provide for more on-campus student housing. Additionally, the presence of students will contribute to the vitality of the Theatre District, creating a 24-hour neighborhood, according to the BRA.
In addition, Emerson is restoring the landmark Paramount Theatre on lower Washington Street. Next door at 543-547 Washington St., in the Arcade building, the college is constructing a 262-student residence hall. The dorms will be located on the eight upper floors of the structure.
Last year, the BRA approved two new residence halls on Northeastern University’s campus. The dorm approval will result in 1,200 dorm beds in the short term, with more beds planned for a future phase of construction on a separate site.
The first of two new residence halls will be located at the intersection of Tremont and Ruggles streets. The second approved residence hall will be built at the site of the school’s Cullinane Hall on St. Botolph Street, and will add 600 more dorm beds to the campus.
‘A College Town’
BU’s $83 million Student Village project was launched in 2000. The 380,000-square-foot building is comprised of connecting towers. The 19-story south high-rise, which holds the suite apartments, will contain 540 beds. The north tower, at 26 stories, has 420 beds. Nearly 11,200 BU undergraduates live in campus housing. With the new building, 80 percent of undergraduates will be housed on campus.
In 2006, BU officials took the first step toward constructing more student residences as Menino and the BRA formed the BU Community Task Force. The dorms are part of a long-planned development on the Student Village site, according to school officials.
Meanwhile, Boston College has plans to spend $700 million in new construction projects, some on 65 acres in Brighton that the college bought from the Archdiocese of Boston. Among the plans is a student and recreation center, as well as dormitories for 600 students.
For years, neighborhood groups have complained that students are driving up the cost of housing in Boston. In addition, they argued that having students in off-campus apartments is a recipe for disaster with problems of noise and late-night drinking. But as schools planned to build housing, some worried about the impact of a concentration of more students in the Boston area.
The most recent battles have taken place in the Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods. Earlier this month, Berklee School of Music withdrew plans for a 35-story tower proposed for the corner of Boylston Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Some members of the Berklee Task Force – a 16-member panel comprised of representatives from neighborhood groups appointed by Menino – said the $120 million building was too tall.
In January, Menino withdrew his support for a 22-story dormitory on Beacon Hill following a chorus of protest from the neighborhood. Suffolk had proposed to raze the former Metropolitan District Commission headquarters at 20 Somerset St. and build 550 dorms in its place. But neighbors said that a nearby residence hall already is the source of numerous complaints.
John Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, told Banker & Tradesman that schools are frustrated because the mayor and community groups want them to build more student housing – until the proposal is in their backyard.
“Boston’s a college town and every major American city would love to have that moniker because of the economic, social and intellectual benefits it provides,” Dunn said. “But it’s increasingly difficult for schools to build within city limits in the face of such organized opposition.”
Menino and BRA officials said the goal is to reach consensus between residents and schools on the kinds of facilities with which each side can live.
William Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said he sympathizes with schools that are trying to answer the call to build more dormitories.
“Many residents have asked these schools to build dorms, but when the plans are proposed, the same people say, ‘We want dorms, but not on my street or the building will cast a shadow.’ The schools can’t win.”
