Academic Tower Proposed Next to ‘BU Beach’

Image courtesy of Stantec

Boston University’s newest academic program will occupy a 12-story tower overlooking Storrow Drive under an upcoming development plan revealed this week.

The school plans to develop the 70,000-square-foot building for its Pardee School of Global Studies on a parking lot behind its College of Arts and Sciences on Commonwealth Avenue. The project at 250 Bay State Road would consolidate offices and classrooms currently scattered amongst seven nearby townhouses and brownstones.

The development plan is expected to move forward by 2026, according to BU’s latest institutional master plan filed with the Boston Planning & Development Agency.

The parcel borders “BU Beach,” the park next to Storrow Drive that is a popular campus sunbathing and recreation spot. Project plans retain nearly 45,000 square feet of the Bay State Road development parcel as public realm space connecting to BU Beach, while locating the building on the east corner of the development site.

The 1.3-acre parking lot has been identified as a potential development site in the school’s long-range real estate plans dating back to 2013. The Pardee School was established in 2014 following a $25 million donation from BU alumnus Frederick Pardee, an economist and real estate investor who died in 2022.

BU also is planning an extensive renovation of the mid-1960s-era Mugar Memorial Library at 771 Commonwealth Ave., including upgrades to building systems and library programs at the 220,000-square-foot facility.

Both projects are expected to begin permitting and potentially construction by 2026, according to the master plan.