A massive 20-acre development covering more than 2.5 million square feet located on Dorchester’s Columbia Point will soon begin breaking ground along the Harborwalk overlooking Boston Harbor. The building site was formerly home to the now-demolished Bayside Expo Center, located three miles from Downtown Boston, just steps from the MBTA Red Line and only minutes to Interstate 93.
UMass Boston, the site’s owner, has hired a development partner to transform the site into a modern-day Harvard Square, planning for up to 3.4 million square feet of mixed-use development.
The university has big plans for the new neighborhood which will be integrated with the existing UMass Boston campus and includes academic, research, retail, residential, dining, entertainment, and cultural uses.
New buildings and landscapes are to take full advantage of the site’s waterfront location and maximize public access to the waterfront. Additionally, the project will replace an underground garage and create fund a new home for the nursing school.
Developer Accordia Partners recently finalized an agreement to lease the 20-acre site, signing a 99-year ground lease for the UMass Boston property with an expected value of $235 million.
The deal will provide some relief to the financially-strapped university.
Accordia was selected as the winning bid from proposals offered by 16 developers for the prime waterfront land on Columbia Point in February.
All the new buildings will feature state-of-the-art energy efficiency and be LEED certified.
The entire project is expected be under construction for about 10 years.
