A rendering of Harvard University's Enterprise Research Campus in Allston. Courtesy of Tishman Speyer
BOSTON—The Harvard Allston Land Company reports it has designated Tishman Speyer as the preferred developer for the initial phase of Harvard University's Enterprise Research Campus in Allston.
The ERC is located on Western Avenue, adjacent to Harvard's new Science and Engineering complex and across the street from Harvard Business School.
The entire ERC consists of 36 acres off of Western Avenue in Allston. The first phase is for a 14-acre portion that received initial regulatory approval for 900,000 square feet of new development from the Boston Planning and Development Agency in March 2018. The first phase includes plans for lab/office space, residential space and a hotel and a conference center.
"Tishman Speyer will bring to Allston a wealth of experience shaped by extraordinary work around the world, and we look forward to the further development of the Enterprise Research Campus," says Harvard president Larry Bacow. "The convergence of art, business, and engineering in a new urban district will create opportunities for creativity and innovation that will drive achievements in research that none of us can imagine."
Jeanne Gang, who graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1993 with a master's in architecture degree, and is a founding principal of Studio Gang, an international architecture and urban design practice based in Chicago, New York and San Francisco has been hired as the architect for the project. Tishman Speyer has previously worked with Gang on residential projects in San Francisco and Brooklyn, NY, as well as the Mission Rock project in San Francisco. Gang has also done work on the University of Chicago's campus and on O'Hare International Airport.
Tishman Speyer's plan for the ERC is to create buildings and open spaces that are configured to simultaneously maximize user comfort and offer a diverse mix of program potential. Its proposal seeks to focus on creating social infrastructure that promotes "inclusivity, shared experiences, collaboration and human happiness…where cultural identity is expressed and authentically celebrated."
"Over the next several months HALC and Tishman Speyer will be working with the local community, elected officials and City Hall to develop and refine a project proposal so that it can be shared and formally submitted for review," says Thomas Glynn, CEO of HALC.
One potential building, dubbed the "Treehouse," would serve as a welcoming front door to the ERC, and would reimagine the concept of a traditional hotel and conference center as a "hyper-social building for local, regional and global populations."
Tishman Speyer states that it plans on partnering with LabCentral, a provider of shared laboratory spaces for high-potential life-sciences and biotech start-ups in the Boston area. LabCentral has been an operating partner of the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab since 2016.
The New York City-based firm currently owns and operates more than 3 million square feet of space in Boston and has two projects in the city, including the mixed-use Pier 4 in the Seaport, and 105 West First St., a life-science lab, also in the Seaport District.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
