Hey, there! Log in / Register
Northeastern files plans for student residential tower
By adamg on Thu, 01/21/2016 - 1:50pm
Architect's rendering.
Northeastern University wants to replace a parking lot off Columbus Avenue with a 20-story building that would house 800 students in roughly 207 apartment-style dormitory rooms.
In a filing with the BRA today, Northeastern says it would lease the building between Burke and Benton streets to American Campus Communities to manage. In addition to the residential units, the building would feature a fitness center and ground-floor retail space.
Northeastern says the building is part of its long-term plan to house more students on campus. It hopes to begin construction at the end of this year, with the work expected to take 30 months.
Columbus Avenue Student Housing project notification form (74M PDF).
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Boo and/or Hiss
I hate when we build housing. The next thing you know some one rich might start to invest in infrastructure.
Now that we got that out of the way...
Don't forget about...
More lost parking! That was my favorite parking lot in the city. Boston is changing, and not for the better!
I could never find a spot in that lot.
Several years ago it wasn't so bad (Around 2000). Around the time the recession hit, I think parking there was at an absolute minimum.
Build, Build....
Build.
Wait, you mean our strategy
Wait, you mean our strategy of trying to scare off every manner of investment in the city, and then complaining about massive disinvestment in the city's transit and other infrastructure isn't working?!
Good, now why isn't every
Good, now why isn't every school in the city doing this to absorb their undergraduate campus populations on campus to stop feeding the slumlord rental bubble?
Tens of thousands of units which would be renovated and occupied by middle class people are currently tied up leased to to students which aren't so vocal when their absentee slumlord skimps on maintenance.
Dorms cause the problem
Building dorm space is only half the issue. The problem, which remains, are universities charge a fortune for the space. You can usually share an apartment with the same number of people as a dorm 'pod' for less than half the price. Colleges make up for lack of dorm demand by requiring certain underclassmen to live in the dorms, which gets kids out of local apartments, but drives up the earlier years of school.
Many dorms have additional problems, like being too mother-hen like (Silber anyone?), forcing moves between semesters, or 'closing' between semesters, forcing people who work to live with friends for a week or two. All making a real apartment much more attractive.
Hard to agree when there are
Hard to agree when there are wait lists a mile long for oncampus housing.
They may not cause the problem
But they are certainly less than ideal for a lot of students, especially once you get past your first year or two.
This.
For the price of a shared bedroom in a dorm for nine months, you can get a private room in an off-campus building for twelve months.
Shared bedrooms are a huge problem past sophomore year. Most people that age are 20 years old and adults, are starting to need a little of their own space and privacy, and are done with the "whee unsupervised freedom!" enough to not need a university-appointed chaperone to notice if they don't turn back up Monday morning or stop breathing in their sleep.
Dorms that close over breaks are a huge burden for international students (the ones who can typically afford luxury dormitories)l: their visas require that they stay in the US for 50 weeks a year. If the dorm closes for a week for Thanksgiving, four weeks over Christmas, a week for Spring Break, and then they have to play Dormitory Shuffle in May and September for summer semester, it is much easier to have their wealthy parents buy them a condo or rent in a luxury off-campus building.
Derr....
How is it that people never understand that when Colleges build more housing, they just view it as an excuse to accept more students? Never has the construction of dorms alleviated the slum lord/college kid renter issue. Living on campus (this might be hard for some to believe but it's true) is much more expensive then renting an apartment with a few other students. At the same time the students are "more free" to do what they will: drink, smoke, party. There will always be college kids looking for apartments and slumlords to rent out-of-code buildings to them. Always.
WRONG
Most colleges around Boston aren't enrolling substantially more students now then 10-20 years ago. The trend in higher Ed is to LOWER the number of accepted students as it makes the school seem more exclusive and attractive. (Thus, higher tuition and donations.)
Do you also complain about companies moving to Boston and hiring more people? These new employees are going to want to live someplace too, you know. Do you think Buffalo (for example) is somehow better off with fewer schools and businesses?
A college in Boston can't win. Everyone gets all pissy about students living off campus and when they build new dorms people like you get all pissy about that too. The students clearly prefer the dorms which is why they fill up quickly. The colleges aren't going away and they are a hell of a lot more valuable then the $125 million just given to GE for a mere 600 "new" people.
some stats please
Do either you or Marco have stats on the student population? Because I have frequently wondered the same thing. Since I was a BU student in the late 80s/early 90s ALL the universities have metastasized all over the god-damned place and yet there never seems to be enough student housing? What's going on? Are there actually empty dorm rooms as students go off-campus for a cheaper and less restrictive environment?
I'm assuming the student body at many schools increased since I was there -- especially since I was part of the Gen Xer population implosion at that time and now the millenials have swelled the ranks. But is that less of an issue than something else I'm not considering?
To answer your specific
To answer your specific question about vacant dorm rooms, I can affirm that, yes, it happens. (More accurately, it's empty dorm beds—triples revert to doubles, and so on.)
I may be posting as a weak-ass anon, but Adam has to approve this comment, and he sees my IP internet information things and stuff, and can easily trace me back to comments where I've posted with enough information to identify me with one of Boston's high-profile universities, in a very dense $$$ neighborhood.
I know that my school had some 200 beds sit vacant last fall. You can take this with a grain of anon salt, but I know it happens.
FFS, just register already
Build up a rep through your comments, instead of implicitly asking Adam to carry your water.
why isn't every school in the city doing this
Because most of them don't have empty land to build on.
The way these deals work is that the college provides the land, the developer finances the construction, college signs long-term lease.
If a private developer has to finance the cost of land at Boston prices near why isn't every school in the cit the T, they aren't going to build a dorm.
Oops
Sorry for that messy cut and paste in the last paragraph! Didn't preview. You get my point.
I should register so I can edit.
Is Northeastern going to
Is Northeastern going to increase their student population while they build more housing? If so, it won't help the off-campus housing pressure.
207 Units at $40,000 in annual
tuition, plus it frees up local housing from student competition. Good ROI.
Not really, assuming each one
Not really, assuming each one of these rooms represents additional tuition money to the school then they are growing their student populations, which means that the same number of people will be living off campus.
This development is win/win
This development is win/win/win. Gets rid of the waste that is a surface parking lot, offers new housing and amenities to students, and frees up housing for residents that is somewhat affordable that used to be occupied by those students.
GOOD!
They're finally doing something with all of that tuition they soaked me for. Now get the NEU President out his free housing:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/23/nu_to_put_roof_over...
yes, old article, still same sting.
But has the administration
reinstated a model railroad club on campus? Their actions when I was a student (early 1980s) resulted in the previous one ceasing to exist as an official student activity.
That, plus the downgrading of the Transportation Management concentration to Supply Chain Management, are the principal reasons they will never see a dime of my money in alumin donations. Oh, add the University's failure to get a pedestrian overpass built across Huntington Avenue as well.
Model Railroad Club and the
Model Railroad Club and the Pistol & Rifle teams were shut down in the 1980s because of the cost to # of students participating ratio. The basement of Cabot was cleared out to expand the gym for NCAA athletes.
Intermural sports also repeatedly have been repeatedly whacked with cuts despite promises of an addition to Matthews Arena to accommodate them.
because of the cost to # of
In the case of the Model Railroad Club, the administration deliberately created the low student to cost ratio by forcing the Club out of the basement of Nightingale Hall and moving them to an annex building next to Matthews Arena. Both spaces were otherwise unused space - it didn't cost the University diddly to support the organization.
The Club had to tear down their layout and were moved into a space that was totally unsuitable for constructing a model railroad. Plus, because of the University's security policies, members of the Club were not entrusted with keys to the clubroom. If there was nobody at the Club when you called, you had to go and get the keys from Campus Police - which was now on the other side of campus from the Club - and then return them afterwards.
The week after the Club was moved across campus, active membership in the Club dropped from about 60 to less than 15. Deliberate
attempteffort to run a successful and popular student organization into the ground.Disclaimer - NU undergrad student from 1980 to 1985. Active Member NU Model RR Club (or what was left of it) 1980 to 1984. Served on NU Model RR Club Executive Board (the folks who negotiated with the Administration and the Student Union) from 1981 to 1983
They're putting a crossing
They're putting a crossing over the Orange line and commuter rail. That's way more useful than a pedestrian bridge across huntington ave.
In the early 1980s, when they started
construction on the overpass (only the footings were ever installed), the Orange Line was still using the Washington Street el.
I never donate as an alumni.
They made me too angry.
Although, if my money were to reinstate the pistol club, I might, just might, rethink my position on this.
NOPE
Not one penny ever
Wentworth restarted their
Wentworth restarted their team. If Northeastern, BU, and Tufts can restart their teams the old intercollegiate rivalry can begin again.
NEU's ranges were closed because of a lack of proper ventilation and intolerant politics. At two million bucks to build a clean safe range, the old ROTC building torn down, and the old range under Cabot replaced with more workout space, the odds of an on campus range ever being rebuilt like MITs are slim to none. But similarly to the Trap Shooting team NEU could have a pistol or rifle team compete at an off campus club. This is how Wentworth's team is now run.
We had a good team on campus, it is a NCAA sport, and an Olympic Sport but as usual some nanny nag had to ruin it. Just like how the football program was ruined.
Wankers!
Surprising
NEU has a reputation for turning out engineers for military contractors. One would think they could call it a "ballistics laboratory" and find a sponsor/donor to get it built.
One reason MIT has a firing range is that it has uses beyond military training and recreational target shooting.
make 'em pay
NE has shorted the city for years on PILOT. If they want the zoning changes likely needed for this and any other projects yhey need to keep up with other schools the city should make them pay through the nose.
On the contrary
We should pay them for the privilege of having them building housing for up to 800 students. Think of all the tax revenue the city will make from these students practicing their consumerism in Boston. Perhaps if we threw in a helipad and rebuilt a nearby bridge that would entice Northeastern to accelerate the construction of this tower.
but let's not mention their
but let's not mention their revitalization of carter playground on columbus ave, securing a $20 million grant from the feds to revitalize Ruggles, their snow removal of all the city streets around the campus and their snow melter made available to the city during major snow events.
C'mon, man, don't you know
C'mon, man, don't you know all we're supposed to do is complain about big corporations here? Stop trying to make them look good.
But but but helipads!!!
NEU doesn't pay as much in
NEU doesn't pay as much in PILOT because they voluntarily pay real estate taxes on a lot of their property.
Want to go after .Edu? Hit all the Harvard and BU real estate shell corporations buying up entire neighborhoods.
Thank you NE U Public Relations Department
For all these posts in response to mine under the ubiquitous anon (not verified).
That's not the reputation you have over at City Hall. Guess what - voluntary RE tax is PILOT and NE's doesn't add up to a hill of beans compared to even Harvard and BU - who aren't perfect - but they are WAY ahead of NE U who is notorious for not carrying their weight in the city.
Lots of farkakte upvotes for anon NEU shill
According to Commonwealth Magazine, Bos Glob, et al - in 2014, Northeastern stopped paying PILOT alltogether!
Billed $2.5 million, paid...nothing.
Huge hubbub, so they decided to make a retroactive payment of about $300k (ie ~13%).
As Seth Meyers might say - Woo-frikken-hoo.
I wonder if they will be able to house all the students now
when I graduated in 2006 i believe it was still only freshmen and sophomores who were guaranteed housing