MBTA Pays $255M For Widett Circle Property Once Eyed For Olympic Stadium And Mixed-Use Development
Once envisioned as an Olympic stadium or a mixed-use gateway to Boston, the Widett Circle property has been purchased by the MBTA to be turned into a rail layover facility.
The public transit agency acquired the 24-acre site for $255M, it announced Wednesday. Widett Circle is adjacent to existing Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Commuter Rail facilities and will be used for storage and maintenance operations out of South Station, which accounts for two-thirds of the MBTA Commuter Rail services.
“Completing the acquisition of Widett Circle is a major step forward toward our goals of improving Commuter Rail service in the near term as well as the future vision for rail that is more frequent, reliable, and better positioned to embrace new and greener technology,” MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said in a press release.
Historically, South Station relied heavily on Readville's rail yard as a layover facility and for its maintenance operations. That station sits 9 miles away from South Station, which the MBTA says has created problems when passenger trains in need of service have to travel back and forth on the Fairmount Line, creating a "burden on resources."
With this proposed facility at Widett Circle, the MBTA envisions more service on the Fairmount and Worcester lines as well as servicing for new expansions like the West-East Rail, which goes from Boston to Pittsfield, and the South Coast Rail Phase 1 service, which goes from Boston to the New Bedford area.
Widett Circle, along with Newmarket, made up a major industrial hub sandwiched between the South End, South Boston and downtown. The site, which today is home to the New Boston Food Market, wasn't always envisioned as an MBTA layover facility.
In the near-decade leading up to this deal, the site had been the eye of developers and the city as an economic gold mine. Plans for an Olympic stadium had been in talks when the city in 2015 put in a bid for the 2024 Olympics. The Kraft family also eyed the site for a new stadium closer to the city for the New England Revolution soccer team.
When those plans subsided, there were other developers, like Samuels & Associates, looking to transform the industrial site into a new mixed-use haven that would connect the adjacent neighborhoods, Bisnow previously reported in a series dedicated to the area.
