The blighted site of the former Ferdinand furniture store in Dudley Square will become the new headquarters for the Boston Public Schools if Mayor Thomas Menino has his way.
The plan to sell five city properties and create a public-private partnership to help fund the project to house Boston Public School staffers and youth-related programs in Roxbury was unveiled at the Boston Municipal Research Bureau’s annual meeting earlier today. Three of those properties, located on North, Hawkins and Southampton Streets, are assessed at more than $39 million, according to records obtained by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
Since a "groundbreaking" at the old furniture store three years ago, the building in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood has sat vacant and become more dilapidated. Menino said he hopes to bring in a developer to build a new educational headquarters.
According to figures from the city, construction on the approximately 135,000-square-foot project will begin in the next 12 months and will cost between $100 million and $115 million.
Menino’s own administration claimed the Ferdinand Building through eminent domain in 2006, after the state backed out of a longstanding commitment to move Department of Public Health offices to the site. At the time, Menino said he would move 1,200 municipal employees to Dudley, and replace the abandoned former furniture store with an $80 million, state-of-the-art structure.
"I’m about the politics of change," Menino said. "The budget road remains rough and uncertainty remains high. This may seem like an odd time to make a big investment with tough times ahead," but the mayor contended it is the right time for such an investment.
Along with the new public schools building, Menino said the city will relocate the fire department’s Southampton Street headquarters to 1010 Massachusetts Ave., where a variety of city agencies are housed, to make way for new commercial development in the Newmarket area.
Menino will also release a request for proposals for the former Area B-2 police station in Dudley Square, as well as parcels at the intersection of Washington Street and Melnea Cass Boulevard for new retail and commercial development.
