By Sara Sheridan, News Correspondent
The GrandMarc/YMCA construction project on Huntington Avenue, right next door to the historic YMCA of Greater Boston, got off to a slow start after it was first proposed in October 2010, but is now at the halfway point of its development.
The construction project formally began in August 2012, after nearly two years of community resistance to the project. Neighborhood activists have battled construction by attempting to have the property named a Historic Landmark and filing various lawsuits over the site’s zoning plans.
While the original YMCA structure will still be housed at 316 Huntington Ave., Phoenix Property Company, which made all of the formal building arrangements and conducted the sale of the space from the YMCA, is building a 17-story residential hall for future students.
“The building will house 720 students, two live-in faculty, residence hall staff, along with general use classrooms and a 17th floor multi-function facility,” said Nancy May, vice president of Facilities at Northeastern.
Despite initial backlash from the surrounding community, the YMCA and Northeastern seemed to have reached an amiable, working relationship.
“We’ve been living next door to [Northeastern], having created them, for many, many decades … it’s great to be around so many young, eager learners,” said Kelley Rice, a spokeswoman for the YMCA. “You know the student population is a stimulating population to be near … We already know what it’s like to be surrounded by students and what that means and we are happy about it.”
The deal made between the YMCA and Northeastern benefits both the university and the YMCA. The aging facility is now using the money, an estimated $21.5 million sale, to make the classic neighborhood recreation center “100 percent accessible and welcoming to the community at large,” Price said.
Price also said that before, there was no elevator access but the new construction was “going to revolution how we’re able to serve our community.”
The project allows Northeastern to fulfill a promise made to the city of Boston in 2006 to add 1,800 beds on campus. International Village, a residential building that 1,200 students call home, was completed in 2009 as the university’s most recent housing innovation. As Northeastern’s need for more residential space grows, the new GrandMarc project will be a solution close to home.
In contrast to International Village, GrandMarc “will have a mixture of apartments and enhanced dorm-style rooms offering diverse options to students,” May said. “It will be a first-class facility on the eastern end of campus,” offering easy access to not only the YMCA’s soon-to-be renovated facility, but also Boston favorites such as Copley Square and the retail and restaurant hub near the Prudential Center.
As of right now, progress has been substantial. “The building is approximately two weeks from finishing work on its structural steel, concrete floors are being poured and exterior precast panels [are being put up],” May said.
The GrandMarc building project is set to open for occupancy in January 2014.
