Suffolk University has asked Mayor Menino and the BRA to approve a Master Plan for the next ten years. They want to add 828,000 sq ft in Boston; a 60% increase in the existing sq footage for the University.
There are two specific projects in the plan 20 Somerset and the Modern Theatre project but these make up only 25% of the total plan.
There are another 630,000 sq ft Suffolk’s plans to lease or buy.
Suffolk gives no detail on what neighborhoods and specific buildings they plan to expand to. They make promises about capping enrollment but give no information on how this expansion will be paid for. How are they going to pay for the additional cost unless they dramatically increase enrollment? There is no financial plan included in this Master Plan.
Approving this 10 year plan along side these other specific projects is like writing a blank check. Until the city knows where and what Suffolk will expand to; it can not give them any approval for such an ambitious expansion. Spin doctors would turn such an approval into some form of legitimate right to expand where ever they choose.
Mayor Menino and the BRA need to separate the two specific projects from the Master Plan or ask for more specific details before this plan can be voted on.
