Off campus

Music to Allston ears

by Mary Beth Polley

Berklee College of Music's new high-tech facility in Allston will answer the prayers of both neighborhood students, who need a place to practice, and their neighbors, who need to sleep.

The college will spend $5 million over the next few months to turn an old office and warehouse building at 25 Fordham Street into 50 state-of-the-art practice rooms, costing $10,000 apiece, and one small cyber-café.

"We have 300-plus students who live in that neighborhood," says David Hornfischer, vice-president of administration and finance at Berklee. "And one of the issues we hear from them, as well as their landlords, is they need a better place to practice than their apartments."

The college plans on completing construction by fall 2000 and may add 50 more practice units in the future if the need arises.

Planning for the new facility has taken more than two years, Hornfischer says, as the school worked with government officials and several neighborhood associations to finalize the details. In exchange for their cooperation, Berklee has agreed to offer scholarships to Allston-Brighton natives and to work more closely with local police to deal with student-related incidents.

Funding for the new facility came from a $15 million loan from the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority. The rest of the money will be used to improve music equipment and computer networking at the school's main campus in the Back Bay.