Now, with a parking garage across the street, a designer coffee outpost in the lobby, and an affable but strict security presence, Columbus Place is one of the most desirable spots on campus. Next door to Columbus Place, if N.U. plans don't go astray, will be Davenport Commons. This combination of dorms and affordable community housing, tentatively slated to go up in September 1999, will include 185 units for upperclassmen and graduate students and forty-six for working families. They deem it a token smidgen of affordable community housing-a fig leaf covering the intrusion of hundreds of transient students. They say the plan would drain scarce federal low-income housing tax credits from home ownership and job creation resources.
Independent observers see things differently.
I really believe in filling in gaps in open space. This is a walkable area, with good public transportation-a compact urban environment good for both students and the community. A national authority on urban space, Kay says Northeastern's location and history of community involvement contrast favorably with the perceived arrogance of some universities-such as Harvard's widely condemned secret purchases of Allston property for future development. Walter Little agrees that Northeastern is no rich interloper. The Mattapan real estate broker has worked with the nonprofit Community Development Group and is a member of the Grove Hall Board of Trade.