A Plan to Move Suffolk? Not Suffolk's Plan!

Beacon Hill Times
Plan to move Suffolk off Hill gains little traction by Dan Salerno


Veteran developer John Ryan is trying to revive a twenty year old plan to move Suffolk University completely out of Beacon Hill and relocate it downtown, a move which he believes would be equally beneficial for the neighborhood and the university.

“Once they see how much money it would save them, they would be crazy not to,” said Ryan of his plan.

His proposal, first drawn up in 1988, calls for Suffolk University to take over the Hurley-Lindemann building in the Government Center area. Currently owned and used by the state for administrative offices, Ryan said that the state offices could be moved to Reedville.

However, no Suffolk University officials seemed interested in the plan, and no representatives from the state returned calls seeking comment.

The proposal is not one that the university plans to consider, indicated John Nucci, Suffolk’s Vice President of Community Relations, who said that the University has no plans to alter or abandon expansion projects already in progress, including 20 Somerset Street on Beacon Hill and the Modern Theater complex downtown.

Ryan also sent his plan to the Beacon Hill Civic Association, but the BHCA does not plan to take up the proposal.

According to Ryan, when the plan was first proposed in 1988, it fell through because there was no appropriate location to move the state’s administrative offices. He says his idea of using a site in Reedville for this purpose solves that problem. However, no one from the state expressed interest in the proposal, and calls from the Times turned up no intention to consider Ryan’s plan.

Suffolk’s plan for 20 Somerset Street is to house the New England School of Art and Design, currently located in the Back Bay. In recent weeks, residents and members of the BHCA have expressed some trepidation about the proposal. Suffolk has responded by offering a pledge of future non-expansion in Beacon Hill. Suffolk filed its Institution Master Plan Notification Form in January and is currently waiting on a scoping determination from the Boston Redevelopment Authority that will take into account public comment on the project.