Boston – Wentworth Institute of Technology has broken ground on the First-Year Tower, an 18-story, 240,450sf residence hall that will house 972 students and bring the university’ s entire firstyear residential class together in a single building for the first time in its history.

The $ 200 million project is the largest capital undertaking in Wentworth’ s history. Designed to meet Passive House standards and fully electrified, it will be among the first residence halls of its kind in Massachusetts. The building is scheduled to welcome its first residents in August 2028.

Roughly 250 university leaders, trustees, elected officials, students, project partners and neighborhood representatives gathered under a tent on the campus quad, then walked to the Ruggles Street site for the ceremonial turning of the ground.

“ We deliberately made the decision to dedicate this building to our first-year students,” said Wentworth President Mark A. Thompson.“ The first year sets everything in motion. It is a transformational time when students find themselves, discover what they are capable of, and start to see what is possible for the future. Everything that follows, from coops to capstones to earning a degree, grows out of what happens in that first year.”

The tower is the centerpiece of Wentworth’ s 10-year Institutional Master Plan, approved in 2024, which calls for roughly 1,400 new beds across new and reimagined residence halls. Within the decade, the university aims to house approximately 75 % of its students on campus.

“ I have spent more than 35 years in the construction business, and there is

no better day in my industry than the one when the shovels finally come out,” said Rose Conti’ 90,’ 12, chair of the Wentworth Board of Trustees.“ This is one of the best, because this time the building belongs to my school.”

Conti earned an associate degree in Building Construction Technology at Wentworth in 1990, attending class at night while working days, and returned two decades later to complete a bachelor’ s degree in Construction Management.

The ground level of the building opens outward to campus and includes dining, lounge and gathering space that will serve residents, the wider Wentworth community and neighbors. The residential floors above include four centralized lounges designed to help nearly a thousand first-year students build connections.

The high-performance envelope will sharply reduce the energy needed to heat and cool the building, and continuously filtered air will make interiors quieter and more comfortable. Because the tower is fully electrified, no fossil fuels will be burned on site, in line with the City of Boston’ s effort to decarbonize its building stock. The same choices give the university long-term control over its energy costs.

More than 50 Wentworth alumni have worked on the project to date, and every engineer who designed the building’ s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems is a Wentworth graduate. Students on co-op are working alongside the professional teams now, and for the next two years students and faculty will have a front-row view of a major urban construction project unfolding in the middle of their own campus.

The tower is being developed in partnership with Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions and BR + A Consulting Engineers, with Perkins & Will as architect and BOND managing construction. The delivery model moved the project from design to groundbreaking in less than a year.

“ Designing the shared home for an entire first-year class is truly unique; it embraces intentionality about making lasting connections, activating the campus, and connecting to the urban context,” said David Damon, principal and higher education practice leader at Perkins & Will.“ This project reflects an exciting opportunity to create a place that becomes an important part of the first-year experience and the broader Wentworth campus.”

Construction is underway, with foundation work in progress and pile driving completed at the end of August.

“ Belonging cannot be something we leave to chance,” said Courtney McKenna, vice president for student affairs.“ Students thrive when they develop meaningful relationships, when they feel connected to their community, and when they know where to turn when they need help. A building cannot create belonging on its own. What it can do is make those things far more likely, and this one gives us a foundation to build on.”

“ I met my best friend at first-year orientation. Looking back, that shaped my first year more than I realized at the time, and most of it was luck: who I happened to live near, who happened to be awake at the same hours,” said Joe Guerrera, a junior studying computer science and president of the Wentworth Student Government.“ It worked out for me, and I

have heard from enough students to know that it does not work out for everybody. This building puts every first-year student in the same place, and it takes a lot of that luck out of the equation.”

“ The partnership with BOND, Perkins & Will and Wentworth has been best in class. The project that has evolved represents the very best of what is possible through public-private partnerships,” said Amy Aponte, senior vice president at Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions.“ All parties truly collaborated and kept the best interests of bondholders and Wentworth students as the focus of our efforts. This special community will contribute to the exciting trajectory of Wentworth.”

“ Projects like the First-Year Tower are an important reminder of what great construction takes: a strong vision, an experienced team and real collaboration from everyone involved,” said Daniel Ramos, vice president of operations at BOND Building Construction.“ There is a tremendous amount of talent across the team, from our trade partners in the field to the design and development teams working alongside us, including many Wentworth alumni. We’ re proud to be part of the team and to partner with Wentworth on a project that reflects its momentum, ambition and continued investment in its campus and community.”

“ Housing is among the most important challenges facing Boston today, and we intend to be part of the answer,” Thompson said.“ We listened carefully before we designed this. Through the master plan process, our neighbors told us what mattered to them, and that conversation shaped what we are building. They made this a better project.”

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