Berklee's Big Change
In a few weeks, Berklee College of Music will open its nearly $100M building for teaching, housing, and feeding students. (It will be the most in tune building on Earth.) We'll learn more about how the world's leading contemporary music school finally built itself world-class digs during Bisnow's third annual Boston Student Housing Summit on Dec. 17, but we've got a sneak peek.
Before Santa boards his sleigh, Berklee VP of real estate and facilities Bill Whitney (an event panelist) expects to file for the C of O of the school's first-ever new build-to-suit facility--a glam addition to this once scruffy stretch of Mass Ave where Back Bay meets Fenway. The elegant 16-story, glass- and metal-clad tower, which was designed by William Rawn Associates includes a student residence with 370 beds, a 400-seat cafe, 4,200 SF of ground-floor retail, and two levels of below-ground, "Hollywood-quality" space for recording, technology classes, critical listening, and film dubbing. Berklee attracts students from 98 countries around the world and now it has a state-of-the-art venue where they can live and learn, Bill says.
In recent years, Berklee's enrollment has been growing faster than its sprawling urban campus of 20 buildings scattered over several blocks, Bill says. It has 4,000 full-time students and until now, only 800 beds on campus. Over the long term, it aspires to accommodate 2,000 students. That would make the city happy, because The Hub's huge student contingent can push apartment rents. Hear more from Bill and 11 other experts at the Fairmont Copley Plaza by registering here.
