UMass in $235M Bayside site deal
Developer to build innovation campus
The University of Massachusetts has chosen Boston-based Accordia Partners to develop the 20-acre Bayside property site in Dorchester in a deal that could generate $235 million for UMass Boston, officials announced.
The UMass Board of Trustees and the UMass Building Authority both unanimously voted Thursday to authorize Accordia Partners to build a mixed-use urban innovation campus at the site of the former Bayside Expo Center that is currently being used as a parking lot for students.
Accordia Partners has agreed to enter into a 99-year ground lease for up to $235 million, with a minimum lease price of $192 million. Accordia has also promised a $25 million investment in infrastructure improvements.
“This is an enormous opportunity for UMass Boston and the city,” said UMass President Martin T. Meehan, stating that the development would allow for the campus to expand and to bring new jobs to the neighborhood.
The selection of Accordia Partners followed an 18-month process and talks with 100 potential developers with the help of Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate advisory firm, that UMass tapped to market the site.
The decision to develop the Columbia Point site is intended to attract business, industry and research partners to partner with UMass Boston, and provide opportunities for research, student internships and new housing options for students, faculty and staff, university officials say.
The move is being hailed as a transformative opportunity for the Dorchester school and the surrounding community. The lease price is a more than 10-fold return from when the university purchased the land out of foreclosure for $18.7 million in 2010.
UMass Boston interim Chancellor Katherine Newman called it a “game changer” that would allow the community to have a say in the future of the campus.
City Councilor Frank Baker said the new agreement will be a “catalyst” for the neighborhood.
“It’s not just UMass benefiting,” Baker said. “We’re going to benefit from transportation. We’re going to benefit from job pathways that are created.”
“This is an incredible return on a strategic investment made by the board eight years ago that will help the university address critical needs at UMass Boston, finally putting to rest some longterm infrastructure issues while creating opportunities for growth and industry collaboration that will be transformative for the campus,” UMass board of trustees Chairman Rob Manning said in a statement.
But some UMass Boston community members remained skeptical of the deal, fearful that the promise of a windfall of cash to support the campus will be broken.
It comes amid a growing distrust among UMass Boston administration and its community after the university laid off staff and cut programs to bring down a $30 million debt.
Parking fees are also rising at the school. Bayside has served as a parking lot for students. But administrators say parking will remain at the site for at least another year and new parking options will be brought to campus.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, a group of UMass Boston union members protested outside One Beacon Street.
“We’re selling off property when UMass Amherst is encouraged to buy property,” said Jeffrey Melnick, an American studies professor. “The question for us is how come none of the UMass Boston community has been in on these conversations. It’s happened behind closed doors.”