Bayside Expo Center
The Bayside Expo Center was a convention center located in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Originally opened as a shopping mall in the 1960s, the mall later failed and the convention center opened in its place. In 2010, it was purchased by the University of Massachusetts Boston after the building went into foreclosure.
UMass Boston's eventual plan was to demolish the center, and redevelop it into space for the campus. It had been proposed as the site for the Olympic Village as part of the Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The property is located near the JFK/UMass station on the MBTA Red Line, which would have been renovated under the Olympics plan. On 4 March 2015, part of the roof of the building collapsed under the weight of snow during Boston's record-setting winter of 2015.
In April 2016, demolition of the building began in order to expand the parking area, to build new pedestrian walkways connecting Mount Vernon Street with the Dorchester Shores Reservation and the Boston Harborwalk, and to improve the lighting, landscaping, bike racks, and security. In January 2018, the UMass System put the property up for sale. In May 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department approved a request submitted by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker that the Columbia Point census tract, which includes the Bayside Expo Center, be designated as an opportunity zone under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. In February 2019, the UMass Board of Trustees unanimously approved a 99-year final lease agreement for the Bayside Expo Center with Accordia Partners for $235 million; $35 million more than initial real estate estimates indicated that the university would receive from the sale.
