Harvard taking new tack in Allston, public meeting at 6 tonight
Harvard University has decided to partner its space in Allston in an attempt to return to redevelopment of the area. The university is still under a heavy debt burden that does not allow it to accomplish its old design for the area.
Going forward, the plan is to not start any part of the project for which they don't have significant outside money raised. At the same time, Harvard will still be building its $1 billion, 589,000-square-foot life science complex with internal funds and donations to anchor the new development. The much-discussed Stone Hearth Pizza is also currently in the works along with a restaurant, called Swissbäkers, in the old Volkswagen dealership. Both should be open by the fall.
Residents are invited to a public meeting at 6 PM tonight in Cumnock Hall at the Harvard Business School where university officials will present the shift in plans.
Comments
Haven't they got like a 24
Haven't they got like a 24 billion dollar endowment? How deep in debt can they be?
endowments are frequently
endowments are frequently restricted. If I endow a professorship, the university doesn't want to take that money and spend it elsewhere. That's the way for a university to piss off donors.
No dog in the fight
Other than passing by almost every day, I don't have a dog in the fight but it must be humbling to know that the world's "greatest" university has been brought to its knees on this project by incredibly poor decision making.
Hubris anyone?
you're soo off
In 2010 it was $27B
:D
Not how endowments work
Endowments are investments that only allow you to live off their interest/returns. If they spend $2 billion in 2011 but the endowment's investment returns only make $1.8 billion that year, they are running $200 million in the red that year.
If they spent part of that endowment, the returns would fall and they'd have to spend more of the endowment. Eventually, they'd be broke.
Harvard usually makes 20-25%
Harvard usually makes 20-25% per year on its endowment, but they spend far less than that from it.
thanks for posting a bullshit
thanks for posting a bullshit figure.
A more accurate figure, looking from 1986-2007 would be an average of 11.00% exponential growth, which equates to 11.62% per annum. If you look 2005-2010 (a less significant, but more recent time frame), the endowment grew 1.585% per annum, while the market lost 1.94% per annum. Of course, Harvard received contributions into their endowment during this period, so their actual interest returns were less than 1.585%.
University endowments generally outperform the market because they can are longer term and can take some risk. And large endowments like Harvard have enough financial clout to get first shot at many opportunities that are very lucrative. But they don't make 20-25% annually.
For the 1986-2007 figures, see wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment#Certain_institutions_by_endowment_growth
Their returns have been good
Their returns have been good but not that good. According to the Harvard Management Company, the average annual return on the endowment over the last 20 years has been 11.9% per year. And keep in mind that it was down 27% in 2009.
spending endowments
I'm pretty sure that in Massachusetts, universities are forbidden (by law) to spend the principal of their endowments--they can only spend the returns (interest, I suppose, and other gains) from off the principal. Certain endowments whose principal got too low during the financial crisis were described as being "underwater."
Swissbakers are AWESOME
I'm so happy to hear that they're coming closer into town from their original location in Reading.
Their pretzel buns are out of this world!
Swissbakers
From the sketches on their website, it looks like the Allston locations will be a full cafe, not just a bakery shop. Cool!