The $64.6 million figure is more than double the $29 million price tag of the alternative design the nonprofit pitched in January. The group hired the architectural design firm Landing Studio to develop the proposal, and the construction cost estimate company Vermeulens Inc. to come up with the price breakdown. A spokesperson for the Emerald Necklace Conservancy declined to say how much the nonprofit paid for either service.
The conservancy, along with a coalition of residents that call themselves the Franklin Park Defenders, has fought for more than a year to halt the city’s plan to overhaul the stadium with Boston Legacy Football Club as a partner, for use by Boston Public Schools students and for team games. The project, which is already underway and has become a political flashpoint in this year’s mayoral election, has an estimated price tag of $200 million, with the city on the hook for at least $91 million of that cost.
Mayor Michelle Wu says the project is a rare opportunity to offer BPS students access to a world-class sports facility, while splitting the cost with a private entity. Critics counter that the park and surrounding neighborhoods are not a suitable location for a professional sports stadium, and that the collaboration would allow a private company to profit off of public parkland.
Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, on Tuesday attributed the higher cost of the nonprofit’s updated plan to the completed demolition on the site. The group’s original proposal had included renovating, instead of completely rebuilding, parts of the original structure, she said.
Even with the increased price tag, the nonprofit’s design would be cheaper for the city than the current project with Boston Legacy FC, she said.
“Amid massive cost overruns, very challenging, potentially unsolvable transportation concerns and continued legal challenges, it’s clear that the Boston football plans are on shaky ground,” Mauney-Brodek said. “We believe there’s plenty of time to pursue a better option, a more affordable, fully public White Stadium in Franklin Park that prioritizes the Boston Public Schools and the community uses.”
City officials previously dismissed the nonprofit’s $29 million proposal for the stadium as unrealistic given the high cost of construction. Wu repeated that criticism on Tuesday, in response to the latest proposal.
“It’s not a real proposal or figure to say that at this point we can start all over, or even that you can deliver anything close to what’s being talked about, for the kinds of figures that are being tossed out,” Wu said to reporters at an unrelated event.
The city’s share of the project’s price tag is likely to exceed $91 million due to rising costs of materials, Wu said last month. She has not offered an updated estimate, saying the figure will not be available until later in the year after construction bids are finalized.
“We are moving forward,” Wu said Tuesday. “We are on track with construction, and it’s going to be a spectacular opportunity for our young people to really, finally have the experience of the city investing in them and giving them the facilities they deserve as a city-wide hub for athletics, for open space, and for community building.”
The controversy over the project has divided community members and different advocacy groups.
Rickie Thompson, president of the nonprofit Franklin Park Coalition, emphasized his organization’s strong support for Wu’s plan for the site Tuesday. He said it would end “years of disinvestment in the park and the crumbling stadium.”
“Right now, the stadium closes at 4 p.m. on weekdays; under the new plan, it will be open seven days a week, morning to evening — more than doubling public access,“ Thompson said in a statement. “If opponents get their way, we will break another promise to BPS students and the communities of Franklin Park. That is unacceptable. It is time to move forward.”
Two BPS mothers who gathered more than 600 signatures in support of Wu’s White Stadium project also criticized the leadership of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy on Tuesday, calling on them to either resign or end “their tired sabotage campaign” against the project.
“After more than two years of public meetings and their resounding defeat in court, it is time for [Emerald Necklace Conservancy] to accept that the renovation is happening,” said BPS parents Dot Fennell and Beth Santos.
But other community members said the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s option would be better for the communities surrounding the park, and that it responds to residents’ concerns about the city’s project.
“This updated design is a relief: open, inviting, exciting, and much more in line with the legacy of Franklin Park,” said Priscilla Andrade, a BPS parent who lives near Franklin Park. “It fosters interaction within the community and offers the opportunity to put BPS Athletics front and center instead of sidelined by the needs of the national league.”
Louis Elisa, a founder of the Franklin Park Coalition and president of the Garrison-Trotter Neighborhood Association, called the nonprofit’s design a “positive alternative” that would benefit all stakeholders.
“It’s good to come to the table with something other than a complaint,” Elisa said. “It’s easy to say what we don’t like, it’s important to say what we do like, and then have the support and resources to show people that there can be, there should be, a working alternative that meets the needs of our communities and families and children, our public schools and athletic programs.”
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.
