Cuno said he had asked world-renowned Italian-architect Renzo Piano, who attended the meeting, to examine the range of possibilities for the Mahoney's site.

The next anyone heard of the project was in February, when Cuno had a "Dear Neighbor" letter sent to residents of the Peabody Terrace area near the Mahoney's site. In the letter, Cuno addressed preliminarily the "exploration of the possibility of creating a new space for the Harvard University Art Museums along the Charles River."

In the tentatively worded letter Cuno cautioned, "It has not yet been determined that a museum space is the best institutional use for the property, it is an idea that I have encouraged the University to explore," but promised to communicate further with the community when circumstances warranted.

But, over pre-frosh weekend in April, suddenly the plan seemed no longer tentative, given curiously surefooted comments by Rudenstine.

When a prospective student questioned Rudenstine on the lack of performance and rehearsal space during the president's address to the visiting high school seniors, Rudenstine made reference to a new art museum that would include "a cinematic center" that would show "classical" movies and house dance practice space and student offices.

But other officials in the weeks following this comment were unwilling to commit to something so concrete.

"There is an ongoing assessment now to determine whether museum use, or museum coupled with other uses such as housing or other uses all together are desirable for the institution on that site," says Mary H. Power, Harvard's director of community relations for Cambridge. "We're still assessing the range of options for the site."

University Spokesperson Joe Wrinn was more noncommittal.

"I don't want to try assume what he was thinking, whether to validate it or verify it," Wrinn says.

Paul S. Grogan, University vice president for government, community and public affairs, says that nothing is certain about the project despite Rudenstine's public comment.

"One virtue of being the president is that you can say whatever you want," Grogan says.

Still Missing

To be sure, any development in Cambridge faces intense scrutiny from a University administration attempting to grapple with space crunches across a number of departments and Faculties.

"There are so many needs, any time there is a major site, and there are very few left in Cambridge, there is great interest," says another administration source.

Harvard's Cambridge land is a diminishing commodity, the source says. "There are little places, apart from that, there's not much left and we're not likely to be able to expand any place in Cambridge" one Faculty member says.