Out of Town

A 150-ton Perini Corp. crane hoisted the Out of Town News building early this morning and swiveled it 90 degrees to face the new Harvard Square subway entrance.

Perini Corp. contractors for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Red Line extension moved the building to ease pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks and along Mass Ave, Paul F. Wheeler, a project engineer for the company, said yesterday.

To lift the 40-ton structure. Perini rented a Manitowoc crane with a 100-foot boom and a 165-ton lifting capacity. Walter A. Viglione, Perini superintendent, said yesterday.

Workmen assembled the crane 200 yds, north of the Square yesterday afternoon and drove it down Mass Ave into the Square late last night.

Viglione said the crane would lift the building into a harness of cables and three steel beams. The move would "take coordination." Viglione said, adding. "Hopefully it will go fine. I don't anticipate any problems."

The Odyssey of Out of Town News

The move this morning was the second of four that the Out of Town News Inc, will make during the extension of the MBTA line. Sheldon Cohen, president of Out of Town News, said yesterday.

When the building was moved from its original site last year, workmen placed it on blocks to make this move easier, Cohen said.

One or two years from now the Out of Town News will relocate at the corner of Church St. and Mass Ave, Cohen said, adding that once the construction is finished, the building will move for the last time--to its traditional location in the Square.