New Complex To Replace Square Bank

Constructive will begin next month on a new $10 million office and retail complex on the site of the Coolidge Bank Building in Harvard Square, bank officials announced yesterday.

Renovation of the Bank building has been "long overdue," Coolidge president Bernard T. West said yesterday The current facility, which is housed in a converted garage at the intersection of Mt. Auburn, Eliot, and Winthrop Streets, "has really been an eyesore for us," West explained.

"Its present appearance doesn't lend itself to good service, nor to the Harvard Square atmosphere," he added.

The new complex, which will provide approximately 40,000 square feet of office and retail space on five floors, as well as parking facilities, should be completed by November. The Coolidge Bank will occupy 2500 square feet on the first floor of the complex, West said.

Cooperation

The designs for the new complex were drawn with the cooperation of five different community groups to insure city approval of the project, according to Petros A. Palandjian, president of Intercontinental Developers, who are handling the construction.

"We participated in the process and felt it was the best deal we were going to get," said Gladys P. Gifford, president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, one of the groups consulted.

Most of the modifications suggested by community group leaders concerned design, particularly the way the building's facade will look. Les Barber, zoning director at the Cambridge Community Development Department, said.

The new structure will "in no way interfere with the character and architecture of the Harvard Square area." Palandjian said. He added that the construction will not affect any of the building's surrounding the bank.

Coolidge Bank, which handles close to 20,000 accounts in Cambridge, will continue its ATM Cash Card service during construction, West said. Additional banking facilities will operate out of trucks at the construction site, he added.

Offices on the top four floors of the complex will be leased to local organizations, merchants and retailers, according to Harold Brown, director of the Hamilton Realty Company, one of the developers of the building.

In addition, the large first-floor office of the bank itself may be used for community activities from time, to time, West said.