UMass Boston to buy Bayside convention center

By adamg - 12/16/09 - 6:54 pm

The University of Massachusetts Boston will expand its Columbia Point campus by buying the 20-acre parcel as part of a $500-million expansion plan, according to a letter sent around the campus today by Chancellor J. Keith Motley.

Additional space will be crucial for UMass Boston as we develop the first new academic facilities on our campus in 35 years. Beginning in 2010, we anticipate starting construction on three new facilities: an Integrated Sciences Complex, a general academic building, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. With our current facilities and parking already strained to capacity, we will need space to replace parking eliminated during the construction process and to house relocated offices and classrooms during renovations to existing buildings.

The Dorchester Reporter has more details on the school's plans for the land, whose owners once hoped to use for a $1-billion mixed-use development, for which financing fell through as the economy fell apart. The UMass deal does not include an office building and hotel adjacent to the convention center and its parking lot.

Motley's letter to the UMass community follows:

MEMORANDUM

To: The University Community
From: Chancellor J. Keith Motley
Date: December 16, 2009
Subject: Campus news

I am writing to inform you about a unique opportunity that has presented itself to the University of Massachusetts Boston.

UMass Boston has entered into a preliminary agreement with the owners of the Bayside Exposition Center, LNR/CMAT, to purchase that property to help meet our space needs over the next several years as we begin to develop new campus facilities and renovate outdated existing facilities.

We know that the 20-acre Bayside site holds great potential. UMass Boston’s acquisition of the property, in addition to addressing our immediate needs, would initiate a university-led planning process to create a vision for redeveloping the site to support the university’s mission and objectives and enhance our neighborhood. UMass Boston will work with the City of Boston, the Commonwealth, the UMass President’s Office, Columbia Point neighbors, and the surrounding communities to develop a plan that realizes the potential of the site, stimulates economic activity, creates jobs, and brings greater activity and opportunity to Columbia Point and the region.

Additional space will be crucial for UMass Boston as we develop the first new academic facilities on our campus in 35 years. Beginning in 2010, we anticipate starting construction on three new facilities: an Integrated Sciences Complex, a general academic building, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. With our current facilities and parking already strained to capacity, we will need space to replace parking eliminated during the construction process and to house relocated offices and classrooms during renovations to existing buildings.

Over the past year we have looked at a number of properties in the area to assess whether they might serve our purposes. When the Bayside property unexpectedly became available earlier this year through foreclosure, we also considered it, cautiously evaluating its suitability and examining the contingent issues its acquisition could raise. We concluded that Bayside offers a truly unique combination of flexible ready-to-use parking and facility space, proximity, and near- and-long-term value for UMass Boston.

I am pleased to report that this week we reached preliminary agreement with the Bayside owners on a letter of intent, which will allow us to move forward with negotiations toward a purchase and sale agreement, and a subsequent due-diligence period. Our hope is to complete the purchase in the first quarter of 2010.

The current economic climate makes this an ideal time for UMass Boston to invest in its future. To accomplish the acquisition, we would work with the UMass Building Authority, which has had remarkable success selling low-interest bonds for capital projects. Since the Bayside would be purchased using bond funding, it would have little impact on student tuition or fees. In fact, the more than 1,500 existing parking spaces at the Bayside would delay the need to build parking structures on campus and, therefore, delay the need to raise parking fees. If the university is successful in purchasing the property, we will work with the City of Boston and Mayor Thomas M. Menino to compensate for the property’s removal from the city’s tax rolls.

I want to thank the entire campus community – faculty, staff, and students – for your assistance in making UMass Boston a wonderful place to be. And I look forward to your continued support in the coming year as we strive to make UMass Boston the student-centered urban public research university of the 21st century.

Happy holidays to you and yours.