You never know for sure what headlines might make their way onto the front page of your humble community newspaper as we dive into our 43rd year of chronicling Boston’s neighborhoods. Unexpected events aside, here’s a preview of stories we think will be a big part of the narrative locally in 2026:
• What’s next for the Carney? — The team tasked with formulating a plan to redevelop the 12-acre Dorchester Avenue campus is likely to put forward an initial proposal for community review in the first few months of the year. Will it include housing? Almost certainly. Will it include a substantial health care operation that will effectively be the anchor tenant for the site? By all accounts, it absolutely has to for it to pass muster with both community stakeholders and city officials— most critically Mayor Wu, who has been consistent in making that health care restoration a prerequisite. The next few weeks and months will tell the tale. Watch this space for the latest details.
• Faceoff with the feds — The city of Boston and the larger Commonwealth, already targets for funding cuts and selective enforcement by a hostile Washington regime, will likely see more of the same, and perhaps an escalation in 2026. It’s a re-election year for Gov. Healey, who’ll likely follow Michelle Wu’s very efficient playbook and run against Trump himself, rather than his local proxies.
Further down the ballot, there could be more competition than usual for local lawmakers who find themselves on the wrong side of Wu over matters like White Stadium or the tax bill standoff. We’ll be watching for more challengers to emerge in the early weeks of the new year.
• Development projects — Proposals large and small in the building pipeline are expected to see real movement in 2026. They include city-approved projects like 150 Centre Street next to Shawmut Station, which will bring 72 units of affordable housing; 555 Talbot Ave., which will include 34 units above a small grocery store; 22-units in a 4-story building next to the Murphy Funeral Home on Dorchester Ave; and a long-awaited redevelopment of Fields Corner’s O’Hearn warehouse building, which promises 47 new housing units above the US post office for 02122, which will also be renovated.
• A big question mark — The massive Dorchester Bay City project (above), a complex of 21 new buildings on the 36 acres of the Columbia Point peninsula, much of it centered on what used to be Bayside Expo Center. The project was approved in 2023 but has been snarled by financing and legal challenges since. Will 2026 be the breakthrough year for this transformational buildout? And if it does move forward, might we see a shift toward more housing on the parcels?
• White Stadium — This will be the pivotal year for the Franklin Park stadium’s renovation, a centerpiece project for Mayor Wu and her administration. Progress has been slow at the construction site— and at least one potential legal hurdle from opponents lies ahead. But, look for the next 12 months to bring expedited work to have the facility delivered for use by BPS student-athletes and the Boston Legacy FC team— as promised— in early 2027.
What say you, dear reader? What news are you eagerly following as we leap headlong into the next quarter-century of the 2000s?
Drop us a line with your thoughts: letters@dotnews.com.
-Bill Forry
Editor’s note: Due to a publisher’s error, the editions of The Reporter published in 2025 carried an incorrect volume number. Each edition should have read “Volume 42.” In 2026, The Reporter will carry the correct number for this year: Volume 43.
