Highlights from the 20 Somerset groundbreaking ceremony

Big Dig

A groundbreaking day for 20 Somerset

With President James McCarthy calling it “a great day” for Suffolk and longtime Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino proclaiming the University’s “important role” in the city, Suffolk held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new academic building at 20 Somerset Street. John Nucci, Suffolk’s vice president of government and community affairs, drew laughs from the assembled guests when he said, “I never thought I would find a hole in the ground so beautiful.” Scheduled to open at the beginning of the 2015 academic year, the $62 million state-of-the-art complex will contain 1,200 general-use and science classroom seats, as well as a cafeteria that can also be used as function space for the University.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony

“Our students will have the finest labs and classrooms, and the needs of our students will be met as we go into the future,” said Suffolk’s Board Chairman Andrew C. Meyer Jr. JD ’74, H.LLD ’99. He later added, “This has been a long time coming, we’ve worked very hard on it, and we think this will be a tremendous step forward for the University.” The eight-story, 112,000-square-foot edifice was designed by the Boston architectural firm NBBJ. It will ease student traffic on Beacon Hill—long a source of acrimony for nearby residents—when classes currently held in the Archer and Donahue buildings are moved into the new space.

“We’re really looking forward to the interplay between what goes on in this renovated plaza and what goes on in this great building,” McCarthy said.

Learn more about the features of the new building at 20 Somerset.