about the project

NEW RESIDENCE HALLS & RETAIL

The buildings now taking shape at 1663 Massachusetts Avenue and 3 Wendell Street mark Lesley’s first ground-up new construction since 1972 and are the result of a unique process with neighbors that designed the project to meet both neighborhood and University goals. A group of seven neighbors worked with Lesley administrators and the architecture firm of Bruner/Cott on the design for residences that met the University’s goals for new student housing but also addressed neighborhood goals of enhancing the residential character of Wendell Street and additional retail along Massachusetts Avenue.

BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP

“At Lesley we use words like ‘community’ a great deal, and it’s a central component of our mission of preparing men and women for important public service careers in our schools, non-profits and agencies,” said Lesley University President Joseph B. Moore. “This project and the good work that was done with neighbors shows how that mission is also applied through our campus planning here in Cambridge.”

The two residence halls are being constructed on two adjacent parcels formerly used by Alamo Car Rental. Facing Massachusetts Avenue, new retail spaces will span the front of the first floor of the five story residence. The second residence, facing Wendell Street, is a wood frame three story building designed to blend with the Victorian houses on the street. Together, the two structures will house 98 students.

The project was designed by Bruner/Cott & Associates, a Cambridge-based architecture firm, through several months of meetings with a representative neighborhood group, many of whom spoke in favor of the project and the process to support a number of variances before the Cambridge Zoning Board of Appeals. The building contractor is William A. Berry & Sons, Inc. Full construction is expected to be complete by September of 2009.

President Moore, members of the Lesley University Board of Trustees, members of Lesley's Student Government Association, and the community members and Lesley administrators who served on the design’s working group will gather on September 10 at 2:30 p.m. on the site to break ground. The University is nearing completion of a long-term campus planning process, and recently entered a partnership with the Episcopal Divinity School to share their Brattle Street campus for student housing, classrooms and library services. The University has also engaged in numerous meetings with neighborhood groups towards the relocation of The Art Institute of Boston to Porter Square, focusing on the site of the former North Prospect Church.

“Our campus exists without fences or walls, and our students experience a campus life that is physically integrated with the neighborhood we share with long-time residents,” said Moore. “Our planning places a positive value on that relationship, and working with our neighbors can and has enhanced our planning.”

PROJECT INFORMATION

• Architect: Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Construction manager: William A. Berry & Son Inc., Danvers, Massachusetts
• Groundbreaking: September 10, 2008
• Anticipated completion: Fall 2009

Architect's sketch of Wendell Street perspective	Architect's sketch of Mass Ave perspective

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Groundbreaking
• Neighborhood Working Group
• WEEKLY UPDATES

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