Two public meetings planned by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) this month will train public attention on Dorchester’s Columbia Point, which will be transformed in the coming years, most notably by the redevelopment of 34 acres that has been dubbed “Dorchester Bay City.”

On Wed., Nov. 10, at 6 p.m., the planning agency will convene a discussion focused on “how the Columbia Point Master Plan and other City plans” will guide the BPDA’s review of the Dorchester Bay City proposal. The meeting will be held virtually via Zoom.

If fully built-out as planned, Dorchester Bay City will transform the former Bayside Expo Center property and adjacent land into a new community with a mix of housing, retail, and public space. The project is a joint venture of Accordia Partners LLC and Ares Management Corporation.

“No decisions related to the proposed project will be made at this meeting,” a statement from the BPDA said this week.
The Accordia-led team signed a 99-year lease with UMass Boston in 2019 and will manage the build-out of the former Bayside Expo Center land in a deal that could net the university up to $235 million over the coming years. Accordia and Ares also control the land at 2 Morrissey Blvd, now home to Santander Bank across the street from the Bayside site.

The most recent iteration of the proposal calls for roughly 5.9 million square feet of new, mixed-use office and retail space, along with 1,740 residential units and space for academic uses by UMass Boston. Twenty acres of the site, according to the latest plan, will include new public open space and a street network on what is now largely an empty parking lot.

The map shown here offers more detail on where buildings and open space would be laid out in the massive 34-acre proposal, which is now under review by the BPDA. A public meeting set for Nov. 10 will offer new updates on the planning process.

On Mon., Nov. 15, the BPDA will convene a separate meeting to “discuss proposed zoning text and map amendments to allow for the creation of Planned Development Areas in the area of Columbia Point adjacent to Morrissey Boulevard,” the agency said in a public notice printed in last week’s Reporter.

Planned Development Areas are described as “a zoning tool for members of the public to realize planning objectives and shape the uses, character, and design of complex development proposals.” The Nov. 15 meeting starts at 6 p.m. and will also be held via Zoom.