Harvard University has acquired hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of land in Allston since 1989, many of them in large, high-profile deals that have spurred some of the area's largest developments.
But quietly, the university has been beefing up its portfolio with about 40 commercial properties scattered throughout Lower Allston and Brighton, housing a variety of neighborhood businesses, from car dealerships to cafes, single-story offices to restaurants, towing services and garden centers.
Currently, according to a Crimson analysis, nearly a quarter of these properties are vacant.
Many of the vacant commercial properties will be redeveloped and converted into office, lab, residential, and retail space. Others will be converted for institutional use, such as the warehouse at 92 Seattle Street, which will become a gymnasium and space for programs for the School of Art, Film, and Visual Studies.
But in interviews, business owners, residents, community development advocates and workers described the disappearance of businesses that once occupied many of the vacant lots, and complained about businesses nuisances to neighbors while they wait for development to move forward.
As Harvard slowly fills these facilities with new housing and retail, residents and the businesses they support will be left staring at empty windows.
“A forever eyesore”
In two cases, buildings worth millions of dollars have been left vacant for years — one for eight years, the other for decades.
287 Western Avenue, the $3 million site that once housed the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center, has sat vacant since 2015, awaiting its turn to become part of a larger new development.
The 287 Western Ave. property has been vacant since 2015, but Harvard University finally submitted a letter of intent in 2023 to develop the project. Jina H. Choi
The project would demolish the current building on the site and construct a new one with 90,000 square feet of office and research space and a public courtyard. Harvard did not submit a letter of intent for the project — the first step in the city-mandated development review process — until 2023, eight years after the community center is vacated.
176 Lincoln Ave., located right next to the Boston Landing commuter rail station, is a $30.7 million, 5.2-acre site that has sat vacant for decades.
Harvard University purchased the property in 2006, but only in 2019 did it hire Berkeley Investments to redevelop the property, which the developer said had “spent more than 30 years vacant and disconnected from its neighbors.”
Cindy Marchand, chair of the Harvard Allston Task Force, said 176 Lincoln “has always been an eyesore.”
“We've been trying all options to try to keep the building available,” she said.
The roughly $31 million property at 176 Lincoln Ave. has been vacant for decades. By Jina H. Choe
In early 2023, the BPDA approved plans to redevelop a site on Lincoln Street in Berkeley, adding roughly 800,000 square feet to three buildings.
Two of the new buildings (approximately 551,500 square feet) will be primarily commercial and will include office and research space, while the third will be residential and will include 252 new apartments, including 10 affordable live-work rooms for artists and affordable retail space for artists.
As things stand, construction “couldn't possibly get underway for another year or two,” said Joan Barber, executive director of a local housing nonprofit.
“We want them to be good neighbors,” she said, “and good neighbors fill those vacancies and take care of them.”
“We wanted to stay here.”
Many of Harvard's vacant properties are concentrated in the Barry's Corner neighborhood, centered around the intersection of Western Avenue and North Harvard Street in Allston.
The lines are along the intersection (9 Travis St., 182 Western Ave., 204 N. Harvard St.) across from Trader Joe's and Starbucks, past the Science and Technology Complex.
The building at 9 Travis St., which once housed Flour Bakery + Cafe's commercial kitchen, has been vacant since 2018. Jack R. Trapanik
The three buildings, along with others at Western Avenue and Lincoln Street, are slated to be demolished and replaced with a large retail and residential development at 180 Western Ave. But three and a half years later, the project is still undergoing resident engagement under the city-mandated large-scale project review process.
Currently, all three properties are vacant, despite being located along Allston's main commercial district.
In 2017, each building was home to a kitchen for Flour Bakery + Cafe, Stone Hearth Pizza Co., and a 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven moved out in 2019, and Harvard asked Flour and Jamaica Mi Hungry, a pop-up restaurant that formerly housed a pizza shop, to move out in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
In an interview, Flower owner Joan B. Chang (Class of 1991) said that when Harvard asked her to close her business in 2018, she understood it “would never be a long-term situation,” but she was sad to leave.
Still, every time she drove through the area, Chan said she was “disturbed” to see the buildings still empty. “We wanted to stay there,” she said.
Marchand criticized Harvard's decision to ask former occupant of 182 Western Avenue, Jamaica Mi Hungry, to move out last year after the owner fell behind on rent payments.
Barber also said she was sad the pop-up restaurants had to close. “It's a shame because they could have still been there and served good food to the neighborhood. They were a great business,” she said.
Pop-up restaurant Jamaica Me Hungry has been asked by Harvard University to move out of its 182 Western Avenue location in 2022. By Jina H. Cho
Marchand said Harvard was more lenient when the bakery next door, Swiss Bakers, ran into financial difficulties and was at risk of closing in 2019.
Swiss Bakers owner Nicholas Stoll said Harvard University has given the company time to get back on its feet and allowed it to stay open in the meantime.
“We are grateful to have Harvard University as one of our landlords and value the strong relationship we have built since reorganization,” Stoll said.
But Ernie R. Campbell, owner of the Jamaica Mi Crazy restaurant, which was operating on a year-to-year lease, said Harvard asked him to leave when his lease was set to expire in 2022.
Campbell said he loved being there, even though the pedestrian traffic made it less of an easy space to work in. “I really miss it because it's a lovely place,” he said. “I just couldn't stand it.”
“It's going to be vibrant for a long time to come.”
Harvard spokeswoman Amy Camosa said in an emailed statement that the university's commercial real estate efforts are directed at building a vibrant Allston.
“Harvard Real Estate's intentional leasing approach is focused on placemaking and attracting a diverse range of retail tenants that contribute to the vibrancy and diversity of the neighborhood,” Camosa wrote.
She added that Harvard is “taking a multi-layered approach to ensure the area remains a vibrant neighborhood for years to come, investing heavily in creating and modernizing retail facilities that will attract long-term retail tenants.”
To gain approval for the development, Harvard also provided significant community contributions to Allston, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual grants to local nonprofits, donations of land for affordable housing, and financial support for open space and public art.
Harvard owns approximately 40 commercial properties throughout Lower Allston. Jack R. Trapanik
But while residents wait for the university's development project to get off the ground, many buildings remain vacant, waiting to be demolished and replaced with newer, shinier developments.
Generally, the larger the property, the less pressure there is to fill vacant spaces on the property, said Alex L. Cornacchini, executive director of Allston Village Main Street, a nonprofit that supports business and community development.
“If a property owner is wealthy enough, they don't think, 'I have to make X amount of money off this vacant lot,'” he said.
Alternatively, Cornacchini said, they could “just leave it empty and wait for the right tenant to come along.”
Cornacchini said some eager local applicants have been turned down by Harvard, and he's heard from businesses looking to locate in the area that they're having trouble signing leases for Harvard's commercial space.
“We've seen companies say, 'I look at this space and it looks really good, but I can't pay $30 a square foot and the landowner won't come down on the price,'” he said.
Residents of Barry's Corner, and much of Lower Allston, are waiting for Harvard to make good on its promises to build a vibrant neighborhood, but in the meantime, local activist Harry E. Mattison says the space feels almost temporary.
“This is a transit area, not a destination area,” Mattison said.
—Staff writer Jina H. Choe contributed reporting.
—Staff writer Jack R. Trapanick can be reached at jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter. Follow.