Neighbors’ Opposition Forces Berklee to Abandon High-Rise Plan

Berklee College of Music has given up trying to build a 35-story dormitory tower in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, where residents were unalterably opposed to the skyscraper. Instead, Berklee will buy a piece of land from a nearby church and put up two much smaller buildings, reports The Boston Globe.

The structure the college had hoped to erect would have replaced the Berklee Performance Center (right) and an academic building. It was to include theater space on the lower levels, and would have had about 600 beds. But neighbors criticized the planned building as too big for the site. Back Bay mixes elegant rowhouses with restaurants, shops, and some buildings in the 6-to-10-story range.

A college official told the Globe that Berklee needs to grow soon. “This is critical to the college,” he said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out the best way to do it.”