| Boston city officials on April 25 celebrated the opening of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, the new headquarters of the Boston Public Schools.
The $125 million state-of-the-art facility in Roxbury’s Dudley Square houses nearly 500 Boston Public Schools employees. It also includes the Roxbury Innovation Center, a startup incubator to connect Roxbury with the innovation economy, 18,000 square feet of ground floor retail with tenants including fashion boutique Final Touch with Class and healthy food retailer Dudley Café and common community areas. The six-story building totals 215,000 square feet and it incorporates the neighborhood’s iconic Ferdinand Furniture Building, along with the Curtis Block and the Waterman & Sons building. The six-story building totals 215,000 square feet.
The building is named for Bruce C. Bolling, the first African American president of the Boston City Council, whose legislation continues to promote access, fairness and opportunity in Roxbury and across Boston.
The project was the largest capital building project the city of Boston has managed since the construction of Boston City Hall. It was overseen by Boston’s Property and Construction Management Department in collaboration with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and PMA Consultants. It was designed by Mecanoo from the Netherlands and Sasaki Assoc.from Watertown. The city selected Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction as the CM at-Risk contractor.
The $125 million project was funded primarily by the city of Boston, but a strategic component of the financing utilized and included $8.5 million in US Department of Treasury federally subsidized New Markets Tax Credits, made possible by a partnership between several Community Development Entities, including the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., Building America, The Community Builders and Banc of America Community Development Corp. and arranged with private investor Bank of America.
“The Bruce C. Bolling Building is built on collaboration and partnership,” said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement. “Thank you to the Roxbury and Dudley Square communities, and the Dudley Vision Advisory Task Force for your faith and support through this process, and to our partners in government, and the private and nonprofit sectors. Without your commitment, steadfastness, and pride, this project would not have been the success that it is. I’m proud to stand here today, and celebrate with all of you, the new standard for municipal building in the city of Boston.”
