“If we move, we want accessibility to transportation,” said Harry Cohen, who has lived at Charlesview for 20 years.
Cohen said that it might be more cost effective to build a new complex elsewhere than to renovate the gray buildings, constructed in the late 1960s.
The University has been negotiating with the Charlesview’s owners for about two years.
In spite of complaints from residents, Harvard Director of Community Relations Kevin McCluskey ’76, who did not attend last night’s meeting, said that past negotiations with the Charlesview’s owners had been constructive.
“These things take time,” he said. “Just the nature of it. I think there’s been a positive tone with these discussions.”
—Staff writer Joseph M. Tartakoff can be reached at tartakof@fas.harvard.edu.