While White Stadium has drawn criticism for its cost, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stated on WBUR that she still would have gone through with the project.
Wu was asked by one of the hosts if she still would have gone through with the renovations knowing that it would cost the city $135 million. She said yes.
"Yes, there have been lots of escalations in things that are outside the city's control, like steel prices going up 40% from when we started, or labor costs going up very significantly," Wu said. "A lot of things from federal policies and all the chaos that's been caused by this administration. But that doesn't explain all, or even most of the change in the numbers."
Wu then stated that based on public feedback that the scope of the renovations has been extended.
"We heard from over 100 public meetings and conversations what people's needs and dreams and hopes were and we decided to expand the project, to do it right," Wu said. "To have the design not be a boxy building that might block some of the very special views in Franklin Park, but to have separate smaller, slimmer buildings with space for storage, for equipment, with a community kitchen for the first time, with a banquet hall, with public restrooms for the first time, that could be available throughout the year. With not just the ability to have a grass field that the soccer team would use as our tenant on this, but one that we could stretch every bit of playing time on by installing a sub air system that adds cost to it, but then can greatly stretch the value that we get from it."
Boston Legacy Football Club has agreed to put $190 million into the reconstruction which is now estimated to cost a total of $325 million. Wu reiterated that this was a one-time investment into the future of Boston children.
"Our Boston kids deserve nothing less than the best," she said. "This is a once in 70 year investment. We have been trying to renovate White Stadium as a community for at least 40 years, when four or five different mayoral administration efforts under different mayoral administrations have been proposed and then fell apart because the financing was too hard to get done amidst a lot of competing needs. We now have a partner in place with the Boston Legacy Football Club, the professional women's soccer team, where we are paying 40% of the construction cost, and they are delivering the largest community benefits package in the city's history, of $252 million over 15 years of private money invested that our $135
million unlocks."
It is estimated by WBUR that the project will go into the 2027 season.
