In a surprise move, Harvard bid $75 million yesterday for a large piece of land in Allston in which it had previously shown little interest.

The land, which is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike, sprawls across 91-acres covered with concrete and railroad tracks.

Called Allston Landing South, the property is currently owned by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Bids for the property, located just south of Harvard Business School and lying adjacent to Harvard’s other holdings in Allston, closed at noon yesterday, though the parcel went up for sale on Janurary 27.

Harvard bid only $75 million for the property—half as much as it paid for Allston Landing North, although this parcel is almost twice as large.

But this land is severely encumbered by the turnpike and rail lines owned by CSX, which possesses rights to use the land in perpetuity.

Harvard planners did not reach a final decision about size of the bid until yesterday morning—right before the bid was due at noon, according to Harvard Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser.

“It was a very hard decision,” Zeckhauser said. “We considered many factors, including the reservation price as well as what the competition might be, in coming up with our number.”

No other universities—including expected bidding rival Boston University (B.U.), which is located adjacent to the property—put in a bid.

B.U. spokesperson Kevin Carleton said that B.U. chose not to put in a bid because of other ongoing projects including $600 million of construction in the pipeline, the renovation of a new law school, three student residence halls, and a computer science building.

“We have identified that there could be future development in the area, but we are not focused on it right now,” Carleton said.

And although Zeckhauser said she heard rumors that B.U. was not bidding, she said that B.U.’s status did “not affect Harvard’s pricing at all.”

The parcel was valued at $100 to $125 million nearly two years ago, but a story in the Boston Globe said that internal Turnpike authority papers estimated that Harvard would need to pay up to $150 million to win the property.

“We thought that people may look to our North Allston Landing price and compare it to this parcel, and wonder,” Zeckhauser said. “But this parcel is much more encumbered, and the economy is of course very different now than when we bought North Allston.”

“We knew all along that we were going to bid on something,” Zeckhauser said.