Boston Public Facilities Commission Approves Six Contracts at June Meeting

BOSTON -- June 14, 2023, Boston's Public Facilities Commission approved six contract actions June 14, headlined by a $5.19 million design award to Utile Inc. for a new 50,000-square-foot community center in Dorchester's Grove Hall neighborhood, backed by a $50 million estimated construction cost. Commissioner President Larry Momoli and newly sworn-in Commissioner Donald Wright voted unanimously on all items, including a $135,600 design contract to Gale Associates Inc. for concrete deck repairs at the Northampton Square Garage in the South End and a $68,120 amendment to Jones Architecture Inc.'s contract for unit ventilator work at UP Academy. The commission also approved two five-year consulting services pools, four landscape architecture firms at up to $3 million each and 27 design-review firms at up to $1 million each, running fiscal years 2024 through 2028. The historic Strand Theater at 543 Columbia Road in Dorchester was formally transferred from the Mayor's Office of Housing to the city's Property Management Department, with programming to remain under the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. A second housing item, a tentative developer designation for vacant land at 75–81 Dudley Street in Roxbury, was tabled after Wright declared a conflict of interest.