Soccer Team Boston Legacy FC Plans $27M Training Facility

A rendering of Boston Legacy FC training facility — The planned Boston Legacy FC soccer training facility will be built on 24-acres in Brockton, Mass.
*Rendering courtesy Courtesy of Studio Troika*

Boston Legacy FC, a National Women's Soccer League expansion club, plans to build a $27-million training complex south of Boston set to complete in time for use in the 2026 preseason.

Slated to be built on 24 acres, the project includes six fields, including two grass ones, at least one heated field and three turf fields with lighting. A planned 30,000-sq-ft main building will house spaces for workouts, staff offices, sports medicine, hydrotherapy, a kitchen and film room. A bubble dome will be erected for use as a practice space in foul weather.

The team is partnering with developer Able Co., architect Studio Troika and contractor Callahan Construction Managers, a team statement says.

Media reports note the training complex project is set to finish permitting and start construction in August. The project, approved by Brockton's planning board earlier this month, would finish building work in January

The privately funded project is the team's second. An ongoing $200-million public-private renovation of the dilapidated White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park is where the Boston Legacy FC team was originally set to launch its inaugural league season in March. Project delays led the team to strike a deal to instead play in Gillette Stadium, home to the National Football League’s New England Patriots and Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution in Foxborough, Mass.

BOND Building, construction manager-at-risk for Boston's half of the White Stadium renovation project, completed demolition of the East Grandstand portion of that project in May, and is preparing to mobilize for its second phase prior to start of new construction in August, Carolyn Campot, Bond spokeswoman told ENR.

“This initial effort for the second phase of work on the east side includes an early utility package to relocate existing utilities from beneath the footprint of the new building, which will enable the start of structural work, including foundations, later this year,” she said.

The schedule for phase three is under development.

Bond Building has completed demolition for the $200 million White Stadium renovation and is preparing for phase two work.Photo courtesy of Bond

Once the Brockton training facility is complete, a few of itsfields will be available for community youth soccer teams to use. Brockton Mayor Robert F. Sullivan said the project “creates new opportunities for our young soccer players with high-quality playing fields and inspiration for the future.” Jennifer Epstein, the team’s controlling owner, said the women's soccer league "is the most competitive league in the world, and our players need and deserve a training facility that enables them to be at their best."

Brockton City Councilor Jack Lally, whose ward includes the project site, said residents have lived through a decade of political controversy over prior failed attempts to create a for-profit sports complex on the site in 2020 and 2021. Residents are “cautiously optimistic," he told ENR. "It’s been a rocky road, but Legacy is ... providing a fairy tale ending for property that was a political mess.”

He told a public meeting that the project was a good thing as long as its team mitigates issues affecting residents, including noise and light pollution, and traffic and pest control. “Once we mobilize, we’re not walking away,” Brian Parmeter, project executive ai Callahan Construction Managers, said at that meeting.

Johanna Knapschaefer, ENR’s New England Special Correspondent, has been writing about trends in design and construction of buildings, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure for more than a decade. She also profiles award-winning industry leaders and delves into broader construction issues such as workforce training, worker safety and health, climate change remediation and emerging offshore wind and tidal energy developments. Over the past two decades, her articles have appeared in Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, American Banker, Modern Metals, BusinessNH Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and many other publications. Johanna is fluent in Japanese, and taught English and academic writing in the Science and Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, while living in Japan for eight years.

When not writing, Johanna enjoys mountain climbing, singing and playing her Spanish guitar.