Dixon adds that the University will want to build parks on its new campus, parks which can cost between $50 and $100 per square foot of land. An acre of park, he says, could end up costing anywhere from $2.5 to $5 million.

Hal Goyette, a partner in the Cambridge architectural firm Cole and Goyette which specializes in large building projects, says the University will also have to pay heavy costs for the analysis and evaluation of its new property—and factor in the unexpected costs that crop up once a project is underway.

Although Goyette does not offer exact figures for these costs, he says that, for example, the discovery of toxic waste on the site could double or triple development costs. Considering that the University’s land in Allston contains old railroad property, some sort of contamination is almost ensured.

Adding It Up

Harvard has already expressed interest in relocating graduate schools, constructing graduate student dorms and building a new museum in Allston. Officials have hypothesized that some of the professional schools—including the Law School, the Kennedy School of Government and Graduate School of Education—are leading candidates for the new campus.

Dixon explains that a classroom or administrative building “could easily cost” $200 to $300 per square foot.

A research building like a science lab could cost as much as $1,000 per square foot, he adds.

Buildings at the Law School currently comprise 820,000 square feet of space, according to University documents.

Using Dixon’s figures, this means it could cost roughly $200 million to rebuild the Law School in Allston at its present size. However, much of the reason for the move to Allston is a need for growth and more space—how much space is still up in the air.

And with every additional school that moves, the cost would rise. For example, the Graduate School of Education, with its 215,000 square feet, could add another $50 million.

Those figures do not include the cost of just physically moving the schools, their offices, administration and libraries a mile across the Charles River.

While the estimates do account for the costs of land preparation and the services of lawyers and architects, Dixon says construction of parking areas, landscaping and other extras would increase the costs even more.

Like classroom buildings, museums are also expensive.

Dixon says “a good museum” can cost between $500 and $1,000 per square foot, for a total of $40 to $100 million depending on the size and speciality of the museum.

Housing, he says, can cost between $150,000 and $250,000 per unit—meaning tens of millions of dollars for new dorms.