Dorchester Bay City: Review Process Starts This Month, 2020
The Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester has lived many lives since it first opened. It’s been a shopping mall, a convention center, a potential site for the Olympic Village (if the Olympics had come to Boston in 2024) – but this 33-acre property is finally starting its biggest chapter yet.
Earlier this year, after a year of planning (and more than a decade after the Expo Center’s last closure), real estate developer Accordia Partners LLC finalized the sale of the Bayside Expo Center land. Their plan: to transform this land into a 6-million square-foot hub for Bostonians to work, live and play.
Dorchester Bay City
This new development is known as Dorchester Bay City. Located between 200 Mt. Vernon Street and 2 Morrissey Boulevard, this massive complex will be a beautiful new public space, complete with storefronts, offices, and homes.
The developers estimate that Dorchester Bay City will be home to 1,740 residential units, 155,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and another 4 million square feet dedicated to workspaces, academic facilities, and research and development centers. The land will also feature a vast public area with bicycle paths, pedestrian accommodations, and roadways, making the neighborhood a beautiful and walkable area within Columbia Point.
Beautification and neighborhood improvements are at the heart of Dorchester Bay City. As Accordia Partners LLC explains in their proposal on the project:
“By providing wonderful new public spaces with improved access to the Harborwalk, retail and open space programming available to all, and a mix of uses that ensures a 24/7 community that embodies live, work, and play, the Project will become a dynamic hub for all Bostonians.”
Accordia Partners co-owner Richard Galvin asserts that Dorchester Bay City will “feed into a series of public benefits,” such as job creation, infrastructure improvements, climate resilience, and greater accessibility to public spaces. While the build-out may take upwards of a decade, it is the company’s hope that this new neighborhood will improve life for Bostonians throughout the Columbia Point region.
About the Development
The Dorchester Bay City project is being developed by Accordia Partners, LLC. Founded in 2014 by Kirk Sykes and Richard Galvin, the company seeks to increase inclusion and diversity in urban spaces through its development projects. Accordia Partners works to create equity in employment and education opportunities, helping to improve their community one project at a time.