The Tufts crew team is getting a new boat house, but few outside of the University seem to be satisfied with the way it happened.
The new boat house is under construction on the Malden River. It is part of a nine-year-old, 200-acre development project in three adjoining cities that has been altered by the economy and survived legislators' attempts to kill it all together.
Everett, Malden, and Medford oversee the project -- called River's Edge -- through a quasi-public group, the Mystic Valley Development Commission. The final agreement necessary to begin the project's first phase was made two weeks ago. The 9,400 square foot boat house is the only part of the project to have begun construction.
River's Edge was originally designed as a commercial development, but the lagging economy did not provide enough buyers.
According to the Sept. 23 Malden Observer, a last-ditch change to the project's master plan -- to include a residential component -- let the commission secure a loan to keep the project on track. A final master plan will now have to consider the zoning for the project, which does not currently allow a residential component.
The original master plan did not include the boat house. The University approached the commission, which got the approval of the three mayors, Everett's David Ragucci, Malden's Richard Howard, and Medford's Michael McGlynn.
The crew team now has no permanent home. It moved to the Malden River from the Charles River in 2001. On the Charles River, the team rented space in the Harvard University boat house, but on the Malden River, the team practices and races out of a tent at 378 Commercial Street in Malden.
"We have enjoyed being there," Director of Rowing Gary Caldwell said of the Malden River. But, he said, the team is looking forward to "slightly less Spartan conditions."
Under the deal with the commission, according to the Observer, the University will lease the property for the new boat house for the next 99 years for $100.
The University plans to make the boat house available to the community, Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel said, "just as we invite Medford and Somerville to have access to facilities on campus when available and appropriate."
The plans for the boathouse include a large multi-purpose room that will be available for non-rowing Tufts and community functions. "It is very conceivable that we'd have requests for space that are appropriate for this site," Rubel said.
"We have a longtime history of working with the community with regard to facilities," Caldwell added.
But legislators are not convinced the whole project will be completed. "It's like slow motion," Medford Councilor William Carr told the Observer. "I cannot convince anyone in the city that this is going to work."
Another Medford councilor, Robert Maiocco, told the Observer the same thing. "I think it is a bad deal," he said. "Is it in the best interest of the taxpayers? No."
The commission is awaiting the approval of the cities' legislatures on the addition of the residential component. The legislatures were not consulted on the boat house.
The new boat house will fit into the commission's plans for recreational facilities to have a place in the commercial development, Athletic Director Bill Gehling said. The crew team "could be an important aspect of the future of this river," he said.
Caldwell said he understood the slow pace of the development project. "Boathouses, like residence halls and music buildings, don't just pop up overnight," he said. "These things take time to develop."
