GrandMarc, a proposed 34-story residence hall to be built behind the main YMCA branch on Huntington Avenue in Boston, is shown above in an artist’s rendering.

Fearing “Animal House”-style antics that would disrupt their neighborhood, local residents are opposing a plan for a 34-story dormitory near Boston’s Symphony Hall.

“We wish they would build it somewhere else,” said Barbara Simons, president of Symphony United Neighbors. “They’re talking about more than 1,000 beds across the street from the site of a 600-bed dorm that the city has already approved for Northeastern University [at NU’s Cullinane Hall].”

Phoenix Property Co. and Lincoln Property Co., both based in Dallas, have submitted a proposal to build GrandMarc, a $110 million residence hall for students on St. Botolph Street, behind the YMCA on Huntington Avenue. If approved, the 470,000-square-foot tower would include 1,140 beds as well as a café, recreation room and lounge on the ground floor.

In the first of a series of neighborhood meetings last week, the developers faced questions about the number of dorm rooms, security, parking and traffic. John Cappellano, vice president of Lincoln Property, said he is sympathetic to the neighbors and insisted he is willing to negotiate with the community.

“I understand their concerns,” said Cappellano. “If I lived in the neighborhood I would have the same worries. But now that we have a proposal, we can sit across the table and reach a deal for something to be built.”

Following the death of a 21-year-old man during post-Super Bowl riots near the Northeastern campus in 2004, Mayor Thomas M. Menino urged the university to house more a of its undergraduates on campus, rather than in surrounding neighborhoods.

For the past two years, members of the Northeastern University Task Force – which is comprised of residents from the Fenway, Mission Hill and Roxbury neighborhoods – have held a series of contentious meetings with the school over where to build the dorms. The task force recommended that the dorms be built on school’s core campus, but university officials said such a solution was not feasible.

The task force has recommended construction of 2,660 rooms near the school including the conversion of Cullinane Hall into dorm space as well as the transformation of the nearby Gainsborough Garage into a residence hall, according to state Rep. Byron Rushing, whose district includes the campus.

But in December, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved 1,800 dorm beds for the area and will consider approval of another 2,000-plus beds at the Gainsborough site and GrandMarc, bringing the total number of beds to nearly 4,000 – significantly more the task force wanted.

Construction of a 1,200-dorm tower already is under way at Parcel 18 at the intersection of Tremont and Ruggles Streets.

“I could support GrandMarc, but only if Northeastern cuts the number of beds in half at Parcel 18,” Rushing said. “The community’s support to allow Northeastern to build anything on Parcel 18 was a major compromise because that parcel was always seen as a location for economic development. Now that GrandMarc will have more beds than we planned, there’s less pressure to build that many rooms at Parcel 18.”

‘No Guarantee’
Frederick McGrail, a Northeastern spokesman, said the residence hall for Parcel 18 went through a two-year process with the task force and the community. He said several possibilities were explored. But the neighborhood, the city and the university concluded after 47 meetings that it was the best location for the dorm and having more beds on campus was desirable, he said. Construction is under way and there are no plans to reduce the number of units, he added.

“Even if the tower is built at the YMCA, there is no guarantee that the beds would go to Northeastern students,” McGrail said.

Jessica Shumaker, a BRA spokeswoman, said while work has begun for the dormitory at Parcel 18, construction will not commence at Cullinane until the first project is complete. In addition, she said, the process to approve the tower at the YMCA is a lengthy one. “This is only the beginning,” she said. “There are many discussions ahead and there are many possibilities to hopefully work out a compromise.”

The pair of Dallas-based real estate developers have entered into an agreement to purchase nearly 36,000 square feet of land from the YMCA together with the facility’s Hastings Wing for an undisclosed price. Under the terms of the deal, the Y would keep about 25,000 square feet of land and maintain the branch. The developers have agreed to incorporate the portion of the Hastings Wing that faces Huntington Avenue into the design. Plans also include a renovated front portion of the building. Phoenix would raze the rear portion of Hastings.

Phoenix, Lincoln’s sister company, has built nearly 8,000 dorm beds on a several campuses nationwide including the University of Virginia and Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.

“I brought Phoenix to Boston because there’s an opportunity here due to the lack of beds for schools and because the city and community want to try to get students into beds out of neighborhood,” said Cappellano.

Typically, the company leases the one- to four-bedroom units directly to students. But the firm is willing to consider a lease to Northeastern or any other school, he added.

Cappellano insisted that the new tower would not attract more traffic. He said the building will not offer parking spaces and the address can be restricted from the city’s resident parking sticker program.

City Councilor Chuck Turner said while he has not seen the plans for GrandMarc, the 345-foot high-rise dormitory, the idea is “insane.”

“We have a real mess on our hands,” said Turner, who represents Roxbury and portions of the Fenway. “If the BRA and Northeastern had honored the commitment made to the task force that abutters would make the decision on the number of beds in the neighborhood we would not be in this situation. Instead, lower Roxbury is in danger of being taken over by Northeastern over time.”

Still, at least one Fenway activist said privately that students already are living in the neighborhood: “Wouldn’t it be better to have them housed in a specific location rather than throughout the area? They would be much easier to police that way.”