“We have no plans to change this property in the foreseeable future,” said University spokesperson Lauren Marshall. “This is a long-term investment and we are thinking about the needs of the University in the future.”
Still, Tolman said he was concerned that Harvard was playing the bully in aggressively outbidding Houghton by quadrupling their offer.
“How can anybody compete with Harvard’s $20 billion endowment when they do stuff like this?” Tolman asked. “One has to look with bewilderment and amazement at the aggressive intentions of Harvard to adversely impact a community business that has been in the community for over 40 years.”
Tolman said that although all of the land—including the 1.4 acre parcel—could be useful to Harvard in the far-off future, he said that the University is too greedy a buyer and unfairly enabled by tax breaks from the state that it gets as a non-profit institution.
“I cannot fully fault them for this purchase, but if you look at their tax exemptions, I start to wonder if the legislature is not making a mistake granting tax exemption status to a institution that has a real estate division which is buying up property at a faster pace than I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Tolman said.
The University’s $75 million bid for the 91 acres is only half of the $150 million which Turnpike Authority officials last year estimated Harvard would pay for the land, according to the Boston Globe.
But O’Neil said yesterday that the Turnpike is “very pleased that we can utilize this funding, and it is within the range we expected.”
Turnpike officials estimated that Harvard would bid anywhere between $60 and $100 million for the parcel, he said.
“There was speculation on the bid being higher or lower, but we are happy with Harvard’s bid,” O’Neil said. “There was also speculation that Boston University had strong interest in the property.”
B.U., Harvard’s expected rival for the property, did not put in a bid for parcel by the auction’s noon deadline yesterday. B.U. officials said the University did not bid because it wants to focus on current projects rather than new property.
An article in the Globe yesterday reported that the Turnpike Authority will put the $75 million towards maintaining the discount program for Fast Lane tolls and for the costly Big Dig project.
—Staff Writer Lauren A.E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.