Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
UNIVERSITY PARK Court Permits Relocation Of Residential Buildings Superior Court Justice Wendie I. Gershengorn has granted MIT's request for an injunction ordering the Cambridge Rent Control Board to comply with its own 1989 ruling that allowed the relocation of two residential buildings on Green and Blanche Streets to a site about 1,000 feet away. The action clears the way for the construction of a hotel and conference center at the University Park development. The board had delayed issuing the necessary certificates of eviction while it reviewed the case at the request of the four tenants, who under the 1989 agreement with the city would be able to move back into their same units at the new location and who would receive interim housing and daily living allowances from MIT. The tenants alleged that the July 1990 parking freeze instituted in Cambridge constituted a level of change that would permit the board to declare the removal permit null and void. The board, at a January 23 hearing, found that circumstances had not changed, but delayed issuing the permits, imposing new conditions demanding evidence that MIT had secured financing for the hotel. In granting the preliminary injunction in a ruling dated March 1, 1991, Judge Gershengorn said that the Rent Control Board "may not impose new conditions" and that the board "may no longer delay the issuance of the certificates of eviction." The judge continued: "The potential harm to MIT would be irreparable as would the harm to the public. Both the hotel and the entire University Park development promise to revitalize the area, creating hundreds of new jobs and generating significant tax revenues. Such revitalization is clearly in the best interest of the public. . . ." The judge said that the hardship the tenants will suffer is outweighed by the public benefit. The harm to the tenants, the judge said, "is somewhat ameliorated since MIT has agreed to pay for all moving and storage expenses. MIT will also provide the tenants with interim housing and daily living allowances during the relocation period. Once relocated, the four tenants of those buildings will retain their same units at the same rent. Thus, the tenants will not suffer any economic hardship and have now had almost two years to adjust and prepare for any other problems occasioned by the move," the judge said.