groundbreaking

Members of Lesley University's Board of Trustees and administration join with officials from the City of Cambridge and members of the neighborhood working group

A LANDMARK OCCASION

On September 10, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., Lesley University ceremonially broke ground on two new residence halls at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Wendell Street. The event marked Lesley’s first groundbreaking ceremony in over 35 years. On a glorious late summer day, students, faculty, staff, alumni and neighbors joined Lesley administrators and visiting dignitaries on the construction site for a brief program of speakers before gathering across the street at the West Side Lounge for a celebratory reception.

Don Perrin, Chair of the Lesley University Board of Trustees, offered welcoming remarks to the assembled group, followed by comments from Hans Strauch, Chair of the Board's Campus Planning Committee. Representing the seven-member neighborhood working group that partnered with Lesley and Bruner/Cott to design the residence halls, Fred Meyer spoke of the process to ensure that the project reflected the best of both the community's and the University's goals. He ended his remarks by addressing the future students who would one day live in the buildings and become part of the neighborhood. Robert Healy, Cambridge City Manager and the Honorable E. Denise Simmons, Mayor of Cambridge, praised the neighborhood process and the addition of retail along Massachusetts Avenue. Lesley University President Joseph B. Moore offered closing remarks and picked up on the theme of a campus without borders--where the campus is a valuable part of the neighborhood and the neighborhood is an integral part of the campus.

“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.”

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• About the Project
• Neighborhood Working Group
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