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Entrepreneurs have long suffered the habit of bringing work home with them. A Cambridge condo development has decided to put the two together — by building a living space for academics and entrepreneurs looking to live with those they already work and play with.
The new University Residential Community, an eight-story complex of condominiums in Kendall Square, is nearly complete. It was intended initially as an exclusive residential development for MIT and Harvard University alumni. It is now open to anyone — at least anyone with an interest in borrowing a cup of sugar from someone who may summon a robotic butler to fetch it, or who may have made it synthetically in the kitchen.
The condo building’s goal, say developers, is to foster networking, raise the intellectual stimulus of its residents and — just maybe — result in some new startups from the cross-pollination of so many learned minds.
“This is the opportunity to interact with people of common interests who are engaged in academic life or developing a company,” said Bob Simha, the emeritus head of planning at MIT and executive director of the University Residential Community LLC, the organization that has been steering the project for the past four years. It includes Simha and eight other proponents from MIT (including former MIT president Paul Gray), Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital.
“The idea of bringing together a community of people associated with science and technology in a residential cooperative in the hub of science and technology at Kendall Square is extremely intriguing,” said Simha.
The condo development with its modern architecture stands on a former site of the Cambridge Electric Light Co., at 303 Third St., hemmed in by companies such as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Biogen Idec Inc. One Kendall Square neighbor Timothy Rowe is particularly enthusiastic about the development, saying it can actually help hone the region’s competitive edge. Rowe is the founder and CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center, a facility that offers office space to local startups.
“In many ways, 303 Third St. is the residential equivalent to what we’ve done at CIC,” Rowe said in an e-mail.
He said people such as Gray, who plans to live there, have a huge impact on the “innovation community.” They advise startup CEOs, sit on boards and make introductions. “The importance of this is incredible,” said Rowe. “The activities and talks are really about bringing people together, getting them to know one another and sharing what help they can offer.”
“It’s fun to be around people involved with the latest innovations,” said Ben Zeskind, an MIT alumnus and entrepreneur with an interest in URC. “Anytime you get MIT alumni together, there’s a lot of interesting conversation about new technologies, and not just in any one particular field.”
An MIT spokeswoman said the institution has no formal relationship with the project, and neither MIT nor Worcester Polytechnic Institute said they offered a formal housing arrangement similar to URC.
The closest thing to a URC-like environment, said Zeskind, is the MIT gym.
“A community would be more than that,” said Zeskind. “People who have retired there could have interesting perspectives to bring. They’ve been through a lot and seen different business cycles and know a lot of useful things.”
The URC group signed a contract with a commercial developer, New York-based Extell Development Co., to build the site. The building is now in the technical occupancy permitting stage. While other similar Boston-area condominium projects have ground to a halt, the URC project advances, said Simha. Already, 38 people have signed purchase-and-sale agreements, and 60 others have expressed interest in buying units since December.
When complete, the complex will house between 170 and 190 units of varying sizes. Common facilities include a swimming pool, fitness center, common area and library.
Simha emphasizes its uniqueness.
“It is a very different model than the continuing-care communities in the suburbs,” Simha said. “Or even the university-sponsored retirement communities.”
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