Following a tumultuous legal battle, Boston and its development partners are allowed to continue with their $200M project to renovate a 79-year-old stadium for a new National Women's Soccer League team.
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On Wednesday, a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled that the city and Boston Unity Soccer Partners LLC could move forward with their renovation of White Stadium in Franklin Park.
"This is just a win, win, win, win across the board for our community and I'm so excited that today we are able to move forward because the lawsuit has been settled," Mayor Michelle Wu said at a Thursday press conference.
The stadium, built in 1949, has already been partially demolished, and now that project will be able to continue. The stadium renovation has encountered pushback from community members that argued the project unlawfully converted public land for private uses.
Emerald Necklace Conservancy and residents in the area brought the lawsuit against the project.
The judge determined that the new soccer stadium didn't violate state laws for par land protections, the Boston Globe reported.
Judge Matthew Nestor wrote in his remarks that the parcel of land that the stadium presided on didn't fall under a state law pertaining to parkland protections and that it hasn't violated any other laws for that matter, the Globe reported.
"The City of Boston and our kids are getting a professional grade stadium for half the sticker price where this amazing team is going to be the example of professionalism and excellence that our students can look up to, and they're going to fund the maintenance and operations of this facility every year afterwards," Wu said.
The city and the Boston Unity Soccer Partners LLC — a private investment group led by four local women — have split the cost down the middle, with both groups expected to pay $100M.
After decades of conversations about renovating the stadium, the city formally put out a request for proposals for the project in April 2023, with Boston Unity Soccer Partners submitting a sole response in the summer.
"We have set a new standard of how sports franchises can connect to their community by redefining what a team’s commitments to social impact can look like," Jennifer Epstein, the controlling manager of the women’s soccer team, said at the conference. "Tens of millions of dollars will be directed into historically neglected neighborhoods via contracting opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses."
