How much of Boston does Boston University own? (Cambridge, Harvard: neighborhood, buying)

[Joe Bama!]

I remember reading somewhere years ago that Boston University owned almost half of the city's property. I heard that the city had to stop BU from attaining anymore property. Is this true?

[lrfox]

Interesting question. I bet someone at archBOSTON.org would be able to answer that (I know I can't).

I doubt they own 50% of the land, that's just a staggering number. Many people take issue with the amount of land colleges own in the city and their sprawling expansion. Even though Harvard is located mainly in Cambridge, they own TONS of land in Boston and are planning a MASSIVE expansion in the Allston neighborhood (project plan here: http://www.allston.harvard.edu/imp/I...ary_010907.pdf ). A large part of the community is against it.

I would check out Archboston.com as they seem to have some smart people who could give you an actual figure for BU. They certainly have expanded, particularly along Commonwealth Ave, but I highly doubt they own 50%

[ogre]

I guess there's some slight possibility that BU owns half the land in the central city part of Boston that commonly goes by the name of Boston, where the residents' mailing adress would be "Boston." If I try to picture that area in my mind, it's difficult to believe that this is the case, but I really don't know. I can't believe it's remotely possible that they own more than a fraction of the land in the entire city of Boston, including all the sections that go by other names.

[TomDot]

Originally Posted by Joe Bama!

I remember reading somewhere years ago that Boston University owned almost half of the city's property. I heard that the city had to stop BU from attaining anymore property. Is this true?

BU owns as much of Boston as Columbia owns of Manhattan.

That is a much closer estimate than your 50% number.

[JHG722]

It's definitely not 50%.

[Joe Bama!]

Originally Posted by TomDot

BU owns as much of Boston as Columbia owns of Manhattan.

That is a much closer estimate than your 50% number.

Is that relative to the size of NYC as opposed to "Boston Proper"?

Does anyone remember hearing about a block on BU's ability to buy more land?

[HowGoesIt]

Boston proper is about 90 sq miles, whereas New York City (all 5 boroughs) are 470 sq miles. I haven't heard of BU buying up more land, but I have heard about Harvard University buying up some land in Allston and Brighton (both Boston proper).

[Hoarfrost]

I was just researching schools and looking at this map. Might be useful.

[brightdoglover]

Maybe the Catholic church owns a lot more than B.U. There's so much tax-exempt property in the whole area between all the colleges and the church property.
Harvard's endowment is larger than many small countries in the E.U. They gobble property in Cambridge and Boston. The big colleges are the 800-pound gorilla, but the C. church is the 900-pound one.

[RemiJP]

That's a very cool map!