More than 50 neighbors were in attendance at a public meeting Wednesday as Suffolk University officials outlined plans for the proposed campus expansion.
Suffolk intends to erect a building at 20 Somerset St., with eight floors above grade and an additional two levels below the street. The new facility, housing 1,072 state-of-the-art general-purpose and science classrooms and a cafeteria, is expected to open in September of 2015. As part of the plan, the school will also renovate the adjacent Roemer Plaza to create an open space for students and neighbors. The architect for the project is the international firm NBBJ.
The new building would allow Suffolk to relocate all 1,200-classroom seats from the Frank J. Donahue Building at 41 Temple St., Gleason & Hiram Archer Building at 20 Derne St., the John E. Fenton Building at 32 Derne St. and the Ridgeway Building at 148 Cambridge St., shifting its student population away from residential Beacon Hill. (The C. Walsh Theatre will remain in the Archer Building.)
Suffolk plans to put the Fenton and Ridgeway buildings on the market, but no timetable has been set for the sale, according to school officials.