Boston
Capital Strategy
The McKim Building of the Boston Public Library facing Copley Square
Boston Public Library, McKim Building. Wgreaves / CC BY-SA 3.0

Rhett Dawson / Boston, Massachusetts

Your backlog needs a plan you can defend.

01 / The Challenge

For universities, hospitals, cities, and the public owners of big building portfolios in Boston.

You have a deferred maintenance number you cannot defend, a roof replacement and a BERDO deadline in the same year, and a board asking what happens if you wait. Boston’s major building owners have more legitimate needs than money. I help you decide what gets funded next and what waiting costs.

See the case studies

The scale of the decisions

City of Boston
Capital Plan

Source: Boston.gov
$4.4BPlanned capital investment
321Projects across the city
FY27–31Five years of decisions

Before you fund it

Capital Decision Checklist

Five questions to ask before any capital investment gets funded. A clear comparison, without a score that hides the judgment.

  1. What must happen?

    Safety, legal obligations, keeping critical services running. The non-negotiable core that frames everything else.

  2. What happens if we wait?

    What fails, what it costs to run in the meantime, what gets disrupted. Deferral gets a price, not a shrug.

  3. What are the alternatives?

    Repair it, replace it, consolidate it, change how it operates, get rid of it. The proposed project is one option. It is not the only one.

  4. What changes the economics or the sequence?

    Funding restrictions, dependencies on other projects, useful life, uncertainty. The stuff that moves a project up, down, or later.

  5. What can we actually execute?

    Staff capacity, design readiness, outages, procurement, approvals. A funded project nobody can deliver is a plan on paper only.

02 / Case Studies

The decisions are real.
So are the buildings.

Six Boston building and infrastructure studies. Each shows a different capital problem, the documented facts, and a question to bring back to your own buildings.

Independent studies of public sources. These owners are subjects of study. No advisory relationship is implied.

01 / Renewal or replacement

The brick entrance and historic arched doorway of Matthews Arena in 2009
Matthews Arena, 2009. Nusportsinfo / CC BY-SA 3.0

Matthews Arena

Address
238 St. Botolph Street, Boston
Owner studied
Northeastern University

When keeping a building becomes a different capital decision.

Foundation movement and structural shoring preceded the decision to replace the arena. It closed in December 2025. Demolition began in March 2026, with artifacts salvaged and the historic arch intended for reuse.

Documented facts

$350 million approved replacement cost, reported by College Hockey News in August 2026. The same report placed opening in spring or summer 2029 after asbestos delayed construction.

The open question

When should an owner stop paying to extend a building’s life and commit to replacement?

For your building, what would tell you it is time to stop extending its life?

Sources

Northeastern: demolition and salvage ↗College Hockey News: cost and schedule, August 2026 ↗Banker and Tradesman: structural condition ↗

02 / The cost of waiting

The former UMass Boston Science Center above the campus substructure, photographed in winter in 2011
Former Science Center above the substructure, 2011. Daderot / Public domain

UMass Boston substructure garage

Address
100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston
Owner studied
University of Massachusetts Boston

A garage problem became a campus plan.

The deteriorating garage sat beneath the campus plaza and buildings. The response eventually combined demolition of the Science Center and portions of the substructure with a new quadrangle and work in existing academic buildings.

Documented facts

$155.5 million to $181.7 million in reported overall totals, with different scopes. The Mass Media reported $155.5 million. UMass describes $137 million of a $181.7 million project that includes academic building renovations. These are not equivalent cost estimates.

The open question

When does repairing one asset stop making sense without changing the plan for the buildings around it?

Which repair in your portfolio depends on what you do with the buildings around it?

Sources

UMass Boston: quadrangle scope and cost ↗UMass Boston: academic building renovations ↗The Mass Media: garage plan and reported budget ↗

03 / Buying more time

Fenced off repair work inside the Alewife station parking garage in October 2020
Alewife garage repairs, October 2020. Pi.1415926535 / CC BY-SA 4.0

MBTA Alewife Garage

Address
11 Cambridgepark West, Cambridge
Owner studied
MBTA

Repairs can buy time. The next decision still comes due.

Falling concrete prompted closures and structural repairs in 2018. A later redevelopment procurement offered a different path for the site, but the MBTA cancelled it in January 2026, citing market conditions.

Documented facts

Another $30 million was planned to keep the garage standing for roughly ten more years, according to September 2026 reporting. A decade of repair work costing about $45 million was wrapping up.

The open question

How much should an owner spend to keep an interim asset operating while replacement remains uncertain?

How much more will you spend on your building if replacement slips again?

Sources

MBTA: August 2018 garage update ↗128 Business Council: cancelled procurement ↗Streetsblog Mass: repair spending, September 2026 ↗

04 / Defining the need

Madison Park Technical Vocational High School along Malcolm X Boulevard in 2011
Madison Park, 2011. Tim Pierce / CC BY 3.0

Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Address
75 Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, Boston
Owner studied
City of Boston / Boston Public Schools

The educational plan has to shape the capital plan.

The city’s proposal would rebuild and expand vocational education across the campus. The capital question includes the school’s future size and programs, alongside the condition of the existing building.

Documented facts

2,200 students, grades 7–12 in the city’s 2023 vision. The FY24–28 plan included $45 million for initial design. On August 26, 2026, the MSBA voted to advance the project to feasibility study. A final rebuild cost was not established.

The open question

How should an owner set a capital budget while the program and future capacity are still being tested?

What do you still need to settle about your building’s future use before setting its budget?

Sources

City of Boston: school vision and design funding ↗City of Boston: MSBA eligibility ↗City of Boston release: feasibility vote, August 2026 ↗

05 / Renewal over time

The McKim Building of the Boston Public Library facing Copley Square
Boston Public Library, McKim Building. Wgreaves / CC BY-SA 3.0

Boston Public Library McKim Building

Address
700 Boylston Street, Boston
Owner studied
City of Boston / Boston Public Library

Preservation is also a building systems decision.

The McKim Building’s restoration joined work on historic public spaces with renewal of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and telecommunications systems. Its capital story is one of phased renewal in a library that continues to serve the public.

Documented facts

1991–2002 was the multiphase restoration period recorded in the library’s history. The work included public spaces, building systems, and the historic courtyard.

The open question

How should an owner sequence essential systems work alongside preservation and continued public use?

Which systems in your building need work, and how will you keep it open while that happens?

Sources

Boston Public Library: restoration history and scope ↗Boston Central Library: building background ↗

06 / The cost of removal

Northern Avenue Bridge swung open over Fort Point Channel, viewed from the Evelyn Moakley Bridge in 2009
Northern Avenue Bridge, 2009. Connie, Cambridge, MA / CC BY 2.0

Northern Avenue Bridge

Location
Fort Point Channel, Boston
Owner studied
City of Boston

An asset can keep costing money after it closes.

The bridge fully closed in 2014 after inspectors found unsafe floor beams. Rehabilitation and replacement proposals followed. The city later filed plans to remove the superstructure and repair the piers, with no immediate replacement.

Documented facts

$31 million was budgeted in total, with $9 million already spent on design and engineering, according to the Boston Globe in March 2025. Demolition was estimated at least $20 million. The research does not establish whether removal has since begun.

The open question

How should removal compete for capital when it restores no immediate service but resolves an ongoing liability?

What in your portfolio still costs money even though you no longer use it?

Sources

City of Boston: bridge advisory ↗Boston Globe: removal budget, March 2025 ↗Northern Avenue Bridge: closure and planning history ↗

03 / Services

A capital plan is a set of choices.

Your budget cannot cover every need. You need to explain which work comes first, what can wait, and what evidence supports the decision.

Capital prioritization

A funded list you can explain.

Your needs list is longer than your budget, and the condition evidence has gaps. I read facility condition and capital needs assessments as a capital committee will, separating documented needs from inferred risks. You get a funded list with the criteria, weights, evidence gaps, approval steps, and delivery responsibilities visible before the meeting.

Deferred maintenance strategy

Put a price on waiting.

Your board wants to know what another year of delay will cost. I sequence backlog work by the consequence of failure, alongside condition. You get a renewal plan that shows what can wait and where delay adds cost or risk.

Decarbonization sequencing under BERDO

One sequence for roofs, systems, and emissions.

Your roof replacement and BERDO deadline land in the same year. I fit emissions work into the same capital plan as roofs and building systems. You get a sequence that compares lifecycle costs, timing, and compliance pathways, with the Alternative Compliance Payment treated as a compliance cost benchmark that informs project economics.

Renewal, replacement, and consolidation analysis

Compare the options before choosing the project.

You keep funding repairs without knowing whether the building is worth keeping. I compare repair, replacement, consolidation, and disposal on the same basis. You get the costs, consequences, and uncertainties on one page before a preferred project takes hold.

04 / Insights

What changes the next capital decision.

Local news and source documents, with a short read on what each means for your buildings.

  5. City of Boston (updated)

    BERDO’s $234 per ton payment is a compliance cost benchmark

    The $234 per metric ton of CO2e payment is a compliance cost benchmark, not a published investment hurdle rate. It informs project economics alongside lifecycle costs, timing, and other compliance pathways.

  6. City of Boston (vote)

    MSBA advances Madison Park to feasibility study

    The vote advances a study without settling the final rebuild cost. Keep your building’s future use and capacity open to comparison before settling its budget.

If you manage buildings like these, this is the conversation I have for a living. If you are trying to decide what to fund and what can wait, let’s talk.