An exultant Mayor Michelle Wu celebrated today’s decisive Supreme Judicial Court ruling that ends a prolonged legal battle over the reconstruction of Franklin Park’s White Stadium.
The decision represents a significant victory for Wu, her administration and the Boston Legacy FC soccer club as they seek to complete a new stadium that will be shared by Boston Public Schools athletics and the pro team. The ruling comes after months of uncertainty as justices weighed their decision. As recently as last week, the court had indicated that it would go beyond its usual 130-day period for issuing a decision following oral arguments last April, raising questions about the construction schedule and when Boston Legacy might be able to begin playing at White Stadium.
Wednesday’s news came as a huge relief to Wu and her team.
“We are thrilled with the court’s decision — [a] clear, unanimous, decisively ruling that this landmark investment in our future can move forward without further delay,” the mayor told reporters during a City Hall press conference this afternoon.
Wu insists that the lawsuit had not slowed activity on the construction site, which has been active since demolition started last year. But, she allowed that clearing the final legal hurdle “does allow us to accelerate.”
“You could go on site now and see just how fast the progress has already been in the structure, taking shape, and all the work that’s happening,” she said. “My heart is very full and excited that our Boston Public School students will get to have the best sports facility anywhere in the country for student athletes. And this will also be open every single day, and every season, available for our community, and continue to give back year after year with investments to our parks, to our schools, to look the businesses, and to the wider community in the neighborhoods.”
“This has been a long journey of several years, and many, many people have been keeping the faith and working hard, whether it’s our coaches and student athletes, Franklin Park Coalition, elected officials and neighborhood leaders, and those members of the neighborhood advisory committee that have been working with the city,” she said. “Thank you to everyone who has been steadfast, that Boston should be a place where we can and will do big things that matter for our community, that we can take big swings, we can get things done.”
Wu added: “It is not always easy along the way, but it’s a moment now for everyone to come together and really get to finishing out this construction project that will open up a world of possibilities for generations to come.”
Wu declined to offer a specific date for when construction might be completed, saying that she would defer to the on-site management team. But, she said, “The project right now is on budget and moving forward exactly according to the milestones that we’ve set out.”
“I get the weekly updates and things have been going very smoothly. We’re now seeing the steel go up and… we’re seeing things proceed just as had been planned. Being done with the legal chapter of this does allow us to accelerate and really focus on planning out the programming, ensuring that community members are involved in every step of the way in final details.”
Yawu Miller provided reporting for this article.
