A preliminary plan for the development of Harvard’s new campus across the Charles River calls for the creation of a shopping district at the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue.

Kathy A. Spiegelman, Harvard’s top planner, stood before a packed room of Allston residents on March 10 and asked them what they would want at a future shopping district at the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue.

“A hot tub,” one woman shouted out.

Residents laughed, but as Harvard works on a new master plan for its future campus across the Charles River, expectations are high among some residents that the University will take steps to improve the neighborhood.

“Harvard has the resources and the motivation to create a community they want to be in,” says Paul Berkeley, the president of the Allston Civic Association. “They [can] create the atmosphere down there. It’s in their best interest and ours to create the kind of place where we can both coexist happily.”

Last December, Harvard and the Boston Redevelopment Authority released a preliminary plan detailing the community’s priorities for the future development of Allston. That plan, developed by a task force of University officials, Allston residents, and city leaders, calls for the construction of housing units, commercial districts, parks, and a commuter rail.

While the plan is still not in its final version, Harvard is going ahead in soliciting resident input to finalize its vision for the new campus.

According to Spiegelman, who is also the director of the Allston Initiative, Harvard plans to release a draft of its institutional master plan by the end of the academic year, incorporating the guidelines laid out in the neighborhood’s plan.

If the plan is approved by the City of Boston—a process which Spiegelman says can take up to two years—the way will be cleared for construction to begin.

“There are still a lot of community approvals…but you basically establish development rights,” Spiegelman says.

SHOPPING LIST

As part of the process of developing the new master plan, Harvard is holding community meetings every four to six weeks in Allston.

The last meeting on March 10 was dedicated to the development of the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue—known as Barry’s Corner—just beyond Harvard’s football stadium.

Today, the crossroads is defined by a Dunkin’ Donuts, a 7-11 and two gas stations. But at the meeting, consultants said that a new shopping district could bring together the Allston community and a new campus.

“[It’s] the most obvious place to have an intersection between the University and the community,” said David McGregor, the managing partner of Cooper, Robertson & Partners, the firm hired last June to develop the University’s institutional master plan. “A good way to bring the University and the community together is through retail.”

McGregor and Spiegelman flicked through slides of other Boston-area shopping districts—including Harvard Square and Central Square—in order to prompt the fifty-some residents present to offer suggestions about what would attract people to a new shopping district.