One additional constraint on the site will be the relatively limited space at the site, only about 3,500 square feet, or roughly the size of Ma Soba, the Pan-Asian noodle eatery located in Holyoke Center.

Despite its small size, Power and Levitan said the site's prominent location is likely to attract the attention of Cambridge business watchers, who monitor the balance of small, local businesses to national chains.

"This site is helpful because it is under-utilized, has marginal buildings and is likely to get a lot of support for [new development]," Power said.

The upper floors of the new structure will contain University office space, although at this point it is unclear whether it will be dedicated to a specific program.

It could house offices displaced by renovation in other parts of campus--possibly University Hall, which will itself undergo extensive renovations over the summer.

"A sixth-month vacation for all University Hall occupants is not, for example, part of my plan!" Knowles wrote in an e-mail message earlier this year.

Levitan said new construction is slated to begin on the Mt. Auburn site in the summer of 2000.

The University is also more tentatively examining the feasibility of putting a parking lot underneath the new building with access from Winthrop Street near Pinocchio's.