For the first time in Tufts' history, crew can look forward to rowing out of its own boathouse on the Malden River this spring.
"This is the first time that the program will have a permanent home to call our own, and gives us an amazing facility to train and race out of," said Anna Lindgren-Streicher, the novice women's crew coach.
The boathouse's construction will not just benefit Tufts' crew . "Adding a boathouse to a park [shows] real-estate commitment," said Gary Caldwell, the Tufts Director of Rowing and women's crew team coach. "This project is an example of partnership between private organizations, municipalities and universities. It's a win-win-win situation."
Construction on the new boathouse started two months ago and is scheduled to be completed by February 2006. Despite some minor set-backs and problems with the long-term lease, "the boathouse has gone very much on plan," Caldwell said. "We've been on a timeline. We're all very pleased with the progress."
"It's been a six-year process, and not always 100 percent smooth. Trying to gain approval has not been easy," Tufts Athletic Director Bill Gehling said.
For the past four years, Tufts' crew team has been using a 40 foot by 80 foot framed tent as a temporary boathouse. It has no heat or running water.
"It's a temporary situation, so it's okay," Caldwell said. "It does its job."
The crew program started in the 1980s. For its first 15 years the program rented racks in the Harvard Boathouse on the Charles River. Two factors forced the change, Gehling said. The crew program was growing in popularity. At the same time, Harvard was no longer happy renting space.
"Using the Harvard boathouse felt like squatting on someone else's space," senior and women's crew captain Daniela Fairchild said.
According to Barbara Rubel of Tufts' Office of Community Relations, the state does not allow new boathouses to be built on the Charles River, so Tufts' crew team searched for a new home.
The opportunity to move off the Charles came in the summer of 1999 when developers from the city of Malden approached him about using Malden River as a rowing site. The boathouse construction is part of a larger project known as River's Edge. Once named TeleCom City, River's Edge is a technology development project of Medford, Malden and Everett. It is a tri-city collaboration to develop the banks of the Malden River.
Caldwell moved the varsity team to the 200-yard-wide river in the fall of 1999, where they "rowed for six weeks, and loved it," he said.
After some compromising, Caldwell was able to agree with the landlord of the site in May 2001 on a 20-year usage of Malden as a Tufts crew rowing site, but the lease was never finalized. The team moved into a temporary facility.
The boathouse does not enjoy universal popularity with officials and residents in the host community. The city legislatures were not consulted on the boathouse, and it is now under construction, the residential program of the project remains stalled.
"It's like slow motion," Medford Councilor William Carr told the Malden Observer last month. "I cannot convince anyone in the city that this is going to work."
Medford councilor, Robert Maiocco, told the Observer the same thing. "I think it is a bad deal," he said. "Is it in the best interest of the taxpayers? No."
Regardless, the project is finally coming together. The new boathouse will be a two-story structure, approximately 9,000 square feet in space. It will provide storage for the boats, bathrooms, showers, lockers and a multi-purpose room.
Senior John Papp, men's crew co-captain, said the completed structure will also have air-conditioned workout rooms with rowing machines, a banquet room and offices. "A boathouse is as critical to a crew team as an ice hockey rink is to an ice hockey team," Papp said.
The entire Tufts crew team looks forward to the new boathouse arrival. "It's a big deal since crew never got a lot of attention," said freshman Casey Conway, member of the women's novice team. "The boathouse is kind of like a sign of recognition for crew."
Fairchild said that having a boathouse would provide for better competition: "There would be less stress, and nobody would have to stand out in the cold."
"We're all incredibly excited about the boathouse. It's being designed by the best boathouse architects in the country, and it's a real home for the Tufts team," senior and crew team member Mark Roberts said. "It's something to be proud of. When parents and alumni come, they're going to see a beautiful boathouse instead of a tent."
