Landslide Update: Boston’s Franklin Park
Boston’s Franklin Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and John Charles Olmsted, is the largest in the Emerald Necklace system, the progenitor of the “urban greenway” typology and a likely World Heritage Site. Two sites within the park are currently enrolled in the Landslide program of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF): Shattuck Hospital and White Stadium. Here’s an update on each:
Lemuel Shattuck Hospital
The hospital was constructed in 1954 on thirteen acres of parkland and was featured in the annual thematic report and digital exhibition, Landslide 2022: The Olmsted Design Legacy. At the time, there were plans to demolish the hospital complex and TCLF advocated rehabilitating the site as parkland. However, in June 2023 the city’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) advanced plans to transform the thirteen-acre hospital site (located along Morton Street) into a drug treatment complex. There followed resistance from residents and some elected officials, and the plans were reevaluated. On December 18, 2025, EOHHS, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) released a joint statement that said: “despite the best efforts of all parties, we have determined that this proposal is no longer feasible.” Nevertheless, the statement also says EOHHS and DCAMM: “remain committed to the redevelopment of the Morton Street site and will be launching a series of public listening sessions to gather input to inform a new Request for Proposals focused on supportive housing.”
TCLF continues to recommend that the site be rehabilitated as parkland and suggests the public attend EOHHS and DCAMM sponsored listening sessions scheduled to take place in early 2026 (to be announced at a later date), and urge the city and state to return the site to the park as greenspace.
Write to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance and public officials—including Boston mayor Michelle Wu—to urge that:
1. The Shattuck/Heathfield site be returned to Franklin Park and restored as publicly accessible open space in line with the original design intent of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and the Olmsted Firm.
2. The City of Boston consider alternative sites, better suited to serve and support health care and housing services.
Honorable Michelle Wu, Mayor, City of Boston
1 City Hall Square, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02201-2013
P: (617) 635-4500
E: https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office
White Stadium
In February 2024 TCLF reported about plans to demolish the park’s historic White Stadium complex, a city-owned open space for public recreation and Boston Public School (BPS) sporting events, and replace it with a sports and entertainment complex that would be home to a new National Women’s Soccer League team. The project is currently estimated at nearly $200 million, half of which would be on the shoulders of Boston taxpayers. Now a lawsuit, which could determine the fate of the project and was filed by the local advocacy organizations the Emerald Necklace Conservancy (ENC) and Franklin Park Defenders, will be coming before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court. Here's a quick recap.
As The New York Times reported: “It all started civic-minded enough (and at a far lower price tag, of $50 million) when Boston Unity Soccer Partners approached Mayor Michelle Wu in 2023 with a plan for a renovation of the 10,000-seat White Stadium.” The proposal drew immediate blowback because of concerns, as the ENC noted, about the privatization of public land, limits on public access, the displacement of BPS football teams, increased litter, the planned removal of 145 trees, increased traffic and parking restrictions, increased air, noise and light pollution, and a lack of meaningful input from affected local residents. It also triggered several legal actions. The lawsuit argues that the proposed stadium constitutes an illegal privatization of public trust lands. In April 2025, Judge Matthew Nestor, a Suffolk County Superior Court judge, ruled that White Stadium is not protected as a park or conservation land under the state constitution’s Article 97. The plaintiffs appealed the decision saying the April ruling focused only on the White Stadium parcel itself and did not address the impact the professional sports complex would have on the surrounding parkland. The plaintiffs also stated that implementation of the proposed changes requires a two-third vote of the state legislature, state environmental reviews, and a thorough review of alternatives—none of which have occurred. As written in the appeal brief, “Even more egregious was the Trial Court’s failure to address whether the project’s grant of usage rights, construction within, and impacts on areas of Franklin Park beyond the Stadium Parcel require legislative approval under Article 97. On the facts found by the Trial Court, this Court should conclude that Franklin Park is protected by Article 97, as Plaintiffs are entitled to a full and fair disposition of all of their claims, which the Trial Court failed to provide.”
On December 17, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided to hear the challenge. This suit is moving forward despite that fact that the original stadium was demolished in February 2025. A hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
