Or the new Fenway area, if that doesn't do it for you. Basically, Harvard has said its 151 acres of Allston, post-development, should remind people of Davis Square in Somerville or the area around celebrated beer garden Fenway Park.
The first big part of Harvard's development plan, Barry's Corner at North Harvard Street and Western Avenue, will look like Davis Square in that it will be rife with pedestrian-friendly retail, including bookstores, restaurants, a health club and a daycare center (and an underground parking garage, as that's what neighbors wanted). There will also be new apartments and, not inconsequentially, the western gate of Harvard itself.
As for the comparisons to the area around Fenway Park, that has more to do with the parentage of the Harvard development plans: Samuels & Associates, the developer behind Fenway smashes like the Trilogy and 1330 Boylston, will build the big residential-retail component at Barry's Corner—a two-building complex, no more than 11 stories and with 300 housing units up top and retail below. The area around Fenway Park is now routinely described as "booming" (we won't go into the adjectives currently in vogue to describe the franchise inside the park), while Barry's Corner is now described as a "ghost town" or worse. Go, Allston. Go hard.
· Harvard Ready to Preview Allston Development Plans [Globe]
· As Red Sox Open, Surrounding Fenway Takes a Bow [Curbed Boston]