BU: No immediate plans for that Allston parcel it just bought, the one with the rights to build a 17-story apartment building on it

Boston University says it's going to be at least a couple years before it formally says what it's going to do with the parcel at the end of Ashford Street in Allston that it bought from City Realty this week.

Spokesman Colin Riley said the school will leave the parcel as it is for now - a warehouse with a parking lot - as it goes through a BPDA review of its 2024-2026 "institutional master plan."

Any future proposed institutional project will be part of the University’s next 10-year Institutional Master Plan (IMP) process with the City of Boston, not the two-year IMP process we are in currently. So, for now and in the immediate future, we will continue to operate the building under its current use and zoning.

The BPDA approved the City Realty proposal for a 17-story, 254-unit apartment building between the GAP area and the train tracks in August, followed a month later by the the Zoning Board of Appeal approving City Realty's plans as well.

City approval included a provision to set aside part of the roughly 3/4-acre parcel to provide access to the West Station commuter-rail and bus station the state says it might one day build on part of the former train yard near the parcel.

Yesterday, Allston Civic Association President Anthony D'Isidoro expressed the hope that BU would use City Realty's approval as a base to propose new student housing on the site, as a way to help ease the pressure on nearby rents.

Should BU try to amend City Realty's approval for apartments into student housing, it would need sign-off from the BPDA. Zoning-board decisions require construction to start within two years on approved projects, so the school would either have to seek an extension on the approval City Realty got or let it lapse and start the approval process from scratch - which would require neighborhood meetings and a new hearing before the board.