"We're disposing of the property because it's property we don't need," Buehrens says.

Residents say Harvard would have encountered strong opposition if it had tried to develop the site for its own purposes. Cohn speculates that this opposition might have motivated the sale.

"They may look at this as, 'We can't use this for institutional construction because we'll get our heads handed to us, so it really is of no use to us, so lets give it back to the neighborhood and let them use it,'" Cohn says.

Even as Harvard sells the land, however, the divestment is only partial--the University-affiliated Partners HealthCare Corporation will become the main occupant of the office space on the site.

But University officials say they have no plans to use any of the site directly after the sale.

"We don't anticipate getting any uses out of it," Buehrens says. "Maybe in the future we may rent some office space, but there's nothing on the immediate horizons."

Harvard officials maintain that their primary objective is to allow the community to use the land for its own purposes.