University and local leaders gathered in Allston on Tuesday to celebrate the unveiling of the first phase of Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus, a non-institutional district designed to promote business, research, and scientific development.
The development — which includes a conference center, a hotel, lab spaces, rental units, and two acres of public space — is part of a broader Harvard investment into the Allston-Brighton area.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 spoke at Tuesday’s ceremony, highlighting that 25 percent of the homes in the first phase of the ERC — 86 apartments total, —were reserved for low-income families, which she said marks the highest share of affordable units ever delivered in a privately developed project in Boston. She also said that the partnership will result in additional affordable housing units on Seattle Street.
“It comes out of this ethos that, ultimately, the City of Boston and I hope our higher education partners around the world are about not only discovery and invention, but doing so for the betterment of all of our futures,” Wu said.
Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 pointed to the recent construction of the Science and Engineering Complex, the Kempner Institute, and the new home of the American Repertory Theater as examples of Harvard’s expansion into the neighborhood.
“Our momentum here in Allston, the teaching and research it enables, the collaboration and entrepreneurship that it inspires, will help drive the University’s next century of accomplishment,” Garber said.
Following the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s unanimous approval of the ERC’s first phase in 2022 and its approval of a revised plan in April, the campus is expected to continue construction throughout the next few decades and ultimately span 36 acres.
The ERC’s first phase covers 14 acres, with the remaining 22 slated to be completed as part of the project’s second phase. The Atlas Hotel and David Rubenstein Treehouse Conference Center formally opened in January.
Get The Crimson in your inbox.
Rob Speyer, chief executive officer of Tishman Speyer — a real estate development firm backing the project — said the ERC embodies the goal of providing scientists with a space to do life-changing work.
“I’m not sure we could have imagined a project that better captured our mission statement,” Speyer said.
The project also includes a 100-acre biotechnology and life science district and an Innovation Center for F. Hoffmann-La Roche, one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world.
The relationship between Harvard and Allston has had its share of turmoil in previous decades. Harvard owns nearly one-third of the land in Allston, from academic buildings to commercial properties and empty lots, and its real estate footprint has long drawn backlash from residents and business owners.
Massachusetts State Representative Michael J. Moran, one of several state legislators in attendance, said he had not always backed Harvard’s construction work in Allston.
“When I first took office in ’05, the relationships were not very strong, ” he said. “Y0u wouldn’t catch me dead at a Harvard ribbon cutting back in those years.”
The Harvard Allston Task Force — a city-appointed group of residents and local advocates — has been working to improve the relationship between the University and the neighborhood. In March 2025, the University committed nearly $53 million for neighborhood community benefits as part of its decade-long Institutional Master Plan.
Tony P. D’Isidoro, president of the Allston Civic Association, praised the members of the task force for their “unselfish work and commitment to an equitable and sustaining community.”
“Public-private partnership does not take place by accident,” D’Isidoro said.
Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton, underscored the connection the ERC will continue to bring between the neighborhood and Harvard.
“When I came to the neighborhood 30 years ago, I used to go to meetings at the Harvard Allston Task Force at the Houghton Library, and some of those same people are still turning up 25, 30 years later,” Breadon said.
“It’s a testament to their love of this community,” she added.
—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.
—Staff writer Alexa M. Schmitt can be reached at [email protected] or Signal at alexaschmitt.15. Follow her on X @alexa_m15_s.
