White Stadium renovation cost won’t be known until end of 2025, mayor says

The taxpayer cost of redeveloping the historic White Stadium in Franklin Park won’t be known until the end of the year, Mayor Michelle Wu revealed this week.

In an interview with WBUR on Tuesday, Wu did not provide a current estimate of the multi-million dollar project, but said the city had already put out bids for utilities. Bids for the stadium foundation will be issued in the fall, followed by bids for the construction of the stadium, she said.

The project has met stiff opposition from Josh Kraft, who is running against Wu for mayor. A small but vocal group of residents also opposes the plan, some of whom sued the city in an attempt to stop the redevelopment. Though a judge dismissed the case in May, the group has since appealed.

The city’s portion of the project, which is separate from the cost borne by the new National Women’s Soccer League team that will lease the stadium from Boston Public Schools, is expected to be over $100 million, well above the initial estimate of $50 million.

Wu has previously said much of the increase is due to changes to the overall design of the new stadium in response to community feedback, but added Tuesday that the cost of construction materials such as steel had increased in part due to tariffs, according to the New York Times.

“There’s always some level of cost escalation, unfortunately, in major construction projects,” Wu said. “We end up putting out bids, and whatever the price in the market is at that moment is what the city pays.”

Wu’s administration signed a deal in December to redevelop the crumbling, nearly 80-year-old stadium in Franklin Park in partnership with the soccer team, Legacy Boston FC.

The team would take on a majority of the construction costs and lease the stadium for 20 games and 20 practices annually, leaving the stadium open to the public schools for most of the year. The facility will be open to the public when not in use by the team or Boston Public Schools athletes.

What Boston Legacy agreed to pay

Boston Legacy will pay the city $400,000 per year, starting in the first year it is operational, with a prorated payment of $200,000 for the first year, according to the lease. They will also share 10% of advertising, 10% of naming rights and 3% of concessions revenue with the city and will cover ongoing maintenance costs, which the city has estimated at $2 million annually.

Additionally, the soccer team will contribute $500,000 annually to a community fund to support local organizations and $1 from each ticket sold will go into a Franklin Park Preservation Fund. The park is the largest green space in the city.

Wu has faced criticism over the price tag of the renovation. On Wednesday, Kraft, a philanthropist and former CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, condemned the mayor’s statements from the WBUR interview, claiming she was not being transparent.

In June, Kraft claimed that his campaign had received information from within City Hall that the price tag had risen all the way to $172 million. Wu vehemently denied this, saying at the time that that number had come from an accounting exercise on worst-case scenarios, and had “never been used as a real basis for conversations or costs.”

“From the get-go, Michelle Wu has tried to downplay the cost of this project,” Kraft said during a press conference near the stadium, according to his prepared remarks. “With construction having already begun, with her proposed transportation plan increasingly being described as ‘unworkable’ and with state officials expressing greater and greater concerns about environmental impact, her lack of transparency is completely unacceptable.”

In political advertisements, Kraft claims the White Stadium project is paid for with money that could be used to build new schools.

Kraft would cancel the contract with Boston Legacy

If elected, Kraft said he would “immediately” cancel the contract with the women’s pro soccer team, commission a study to determine the size of stadium and amenities necessary for Boston Public Schools student athletes and develop a new plan for the site “at a fraction of the cost.”

Kraft is the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The family, through the Kraft Group, also owns the New England Revolution men’s pro soccer team and seeks to build a new soccer stadium in Everett. The team currently plays at Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots.

Wu and others in Boston have expressed concerns over the Everett stadium proposal because of potential traffic issues in neighboring Charlestown. City officials are negotiating with the Kraft Group, who have so far offered $750,000 as mitigation costs.

Earlier this month, city officials sent a letter to Kraft Group executive Brian Bilello, saying they want a mediator to help resolve parking and environmental issues, according to The Boston Globe.

City officials want the Kraft Group to share a detailed list of the impacts of the new stadium, the Globe reported.

In a statement Wednesday, a Wu campaign spokesperson accused Kraft of “manufacturing controversy to distract from his glaring financial conflicts.”

“These fact-free political attacks will not derail a project that is already decades overdue,” the spokesperson said. “The mayor believes Boston Public Schools students and the public deserve state-of-the-art facilities, and the city has been consistently clear that public bidding for the next phase of construction is weeks away. … Boston needs a mayor who will always stand up for the public, not one hiding behind his own financial conflicts and who won’t even disclose them to voters.”