The cone of silence has dropped over White Stadium planning, and calling on the shoe phone got only a busy signal – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_phone

On Jan. 29, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy satellite the Franklin Park Defenders emailed that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu would be holding a press conference about White Stadium on Jan. 30.

“Please keep this information to only trusted allies as we do not want to give them [the mayor’s office] any reason to cancel.”

The press conference was canceled.

Then at 6 p.m. Feb. 5, the shoe phone lit up.

“Mayor Wu will host a press conference to share a progress update on White Stadium. Franklin Park clubhouse, 10 a,m., February 6.”

It was a full house with a bank of eight television cameras; Mayor Michelle Wu was flanked by a row of Boston Public Schools (BPS) Athletic Dept. staff, Public Facilities staff, a stadium subcontractor, three elected officials, Jennifer Epstein of the Boston Legacy Football Club, and Camella Restapo, an O’Bryant High School soccer player.

A long row of Franklin Park Defenders in their orange T-shirts were lined up along the windows. No hand-drawn cardboard signs though.

“We’re here in Franklin Park to share some news,” Wu said.

The largest community benefits in the city’s history, $250 million, she said, over the next 15 years in agreement with Boston Legacy FC.

And the numbers kept rolling off:

• $34 million to operate and maintain the stadium.

• $15.4 million in rent and revenue sharing.

• $9.3 million in additional community benefits.

• $3.75 million for Franklin park projects and tree canopy to be guided by the Franklin Park Coalition.

In addition, Wu explained, Boston Legacy will “support student athletes with team uniforms, equipment, transportation and travel to which the city will dedicate $8 million from revenue sharing over the next 15 years.”

But the number everyone was waiting for was next: Mayor Wu said the budget for the city’s east grandstand half of the stadium is now $135 million.

Boston Legacy’s renovation of its west grandstand half (the wall of which is still in place held up by scaffolding) the mayor said, “will cost in excess of $190 million financed by a loan from the Bank of America.”

The total cost of a new White Stadium is now $326 million.

This cost was the big news story for Friday.

By the time The Bulletin got back the story was in the online Globe and Herald; the mayor had posted two clips on her Instagram page, one a voice-over video (also on Bluesky) and the second one a slide show of the benefits package; the Franklin Park Defenders churned out a press release and even The Fort Pointer, ever eager to point out municipal malfeasance on his Seaport District X feed, weighed in with a positive vibe.

The mayor emphasized that the publicly-funded share will be a “protected by Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract [that] includes the pricing of finalized design, tariffs on construction materials and market escalation.”

“This is the final budget,” Wu said.The mayor went on to say that “demolition, subsurface utility and foundation work including upgraded power, water and telecommunication are slated to be complete in the fall of 2026.”

Vertical construction on both sides will begin at the end of March, she said.

“White Stadium is coming back – go life!” Wu said.

“I want to thank and recognize even those who were not on the same page, the Franklin Park Defenders, the Garrison Trotter neighborhood association, we’re also here for you.” Mayor Wu emphasized the economic benefits of White Stadium: “500 construction jobs, $44 million in contracts -44 percent of which are to minority- and women-owned companies, and millions more in construction contracts.”

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But will that benefit El Dugout Restaurant or Happy Market on Seaver Street directly opposite the Humboldt Avenue entrance to Franklin Park?

That’s the question Ed Gaskin director of Grove Hall Main Streets has been asking in his Boston Herald columns.

As he wrote in the Jan. 25 Herald: “The White Stadium project is moving forward without a comprehensive assessment of its economic impacts.”

What concerns Gaskin is not how much revenue is generated IN the stadium but how or IF merchants OUTSIDE the stadium at Egleston Square and Grove Hall will see an increase in revenue and customers.

“As Executive Director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, I have consistently called for such a study,” Gaskin wrote. “White Stadium represents a public investment with the capacity to shape business activity, employment patterns and neighborhood vitality for decades.”

“The central issue is whether local businesses will benefit at all – will neighborhood restaurants and service providers and tourism dollars generated by the stadium by-pass the community?”

The business district of Egleston Square, for example, is a 10-minute walk down School Street from the stadium; what the North End is to Italian food, Egleston is to Dominican food that out-of-towners at the soccer games could easily enjoy.

But Gaskin already had one answer in his April 4,2025 column.

“Franklin Park already receives over a million visitors annually [at the zoo and golf course], very few of whom directly benefit the local economy…they leave without visiting local businesses… they drive in and leave without spending locally.”

In his Feb. 3 column Gaskin called again for a Franklin Park parking study using the zoo as evidence.

“On busy weekends zoo visitors circle Franklin Park only to go home. During major events cars double park, many spill over onto the grass. Trash accumulates.”

“Who decides when the park is at capacity? Who activates traffic control? Who pays for enforcement? Who is accountable?”

Meanwhile the beat goes on at the courthouse.

On Dec. 17 the Supreme Judicial Court agreed to hear an appeal from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy that the lease of White Stadium to Unity Soccer Partners violates Article 97 that prohibits privatization of public land; last March the court ruled that the lease was not in violation.

Judge Matthew Nestor sided with the city.

“Notwithstanding the testimony from nearby residents, there is simply inadequate evidence… the Stadium parcel is not protected by Article 97,” he wrote.

The ENC is encouraging supporters to file amicus briefs or friend of the court requests with the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Conservancy is prepping its supporters to write. In a message on Feb. 3, the Conservancy wrote that a series of “drop-in zoom sessions to provide high level overview of the case and status of the procedural steps” would be scheduled on Feb 3, 4 and 5. Amicus briefs are due Feb 9.

In the Feb 6 Defenders press release, Mattapan resident Pam Jones was quoted:“This [is a] misguided project. A massive risk for Boston. The Supreme Judicial Court will determine the future of Franklin Park not Boston Legacy’s wealthy private investors.”

According to the ENC, the case could be heard as early as March 2.