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In a town hall meeting held on Monday night, Breadon said that she was asking for a total five-year capital investment of 80 to 100 million dollars for the design and reconstruction of the Jackson Mann Community Center.

The city councilor, who represents Allston-Brighton and serves as the City Council President, says that the investment will be split into several stages. For FY2027, which runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, she is asking the city to allocate 3.5 to five million dollars for a programming and design study. She describes this study as a “conversation to have with the community” to plan activities that will guide the building design of the new community center. 

“It’s in this moment, we have to think about programming. What sorts of facilities do we need in the building to meet the programming needs. Are we going to need two big basketball courts? Do we need a pool?” she says during Monday night’s town hall.

Breadon also mentioned that the ongoing financial feasibility study, whose release date has been pushed from February 2026 to end of March, would also inform what programming would be possible. Both her and Councilor Benjamin Weber, who also spoke at the town hall, emphasized that the feasibility study will ensure that the city has an accurate estimate of how much to borrow for these capital projects. 

“We have a triple A bond rating and holding on to that is important because it reduces the cost of borrowing for these kinds of capital projects,” said Weber who chairs the Ways and Means Committee that oversees the budget process on Boston City Council. “When we talk about bond rating, we are really talking about what makes these projects feasible.”

After FY2027, Breadon is asking 40 million for FY2028 as well as another another 40 million dollars for FY2029 to FY2031 for rebuilding and reconstruction. 

The amount that she proposed at this town hall falls within the range that Breadon had previously told Allstonia earlier this month. Then, she said that she was asking for budget commitments that are comparable to the reconstruction of other community centers around Boston. 

The previous capital budget had allocated a total of 88 million dollars for the design and reconstruction of the Nazarro Center, a BCYF community center in the North End. This included one million in FY2025, two million in FY2026 and over 84 million from FY2027 to FY2030. 

However, in order to determine the uses for the community center, Breadon said that Boston Public Schools would need to cede its partial ownership of the site. A decision between Mayor Michelle Wu, Superintendent Mary Skipper and Director of Capital Building at BPS Delavern Stanislaus has yet to be confirmed, but Breadon said that it was unlikely that Boston Public Schools will build a new elementary school at the site — though. The Jackson Mann was the site of a pre-K-8 BPS school that closed in 2022. 

“It’s a very fluid situation with regard to enrollment. There’s probably a pause in any plan to build a new school in Allston-Brighton,” said Councilor Breadon. “My focus right now is to improve the facilities and the schools we already have.”

In addition to the Jackson Mann, Breadon also highlighted priorities to rehabilitate the auditoriums for the Thomas Edison School and Brighton High School. 

“Having a fully rehabilitated and renovated auditorium at the high school is a big priority for us because it would give us a room where we could have a large community meeting and have up to 600 people in a room.”

Residents will have opportunities to provide more perspectives on the budget through two-minute testimonies on Zoom or in-person at the Iannella Chamber at Boston City Hall on March 24 at 6pm.  

Meetings like the town hall and these testimonies come ahead of the April 8 deadline when Mayor Michelle Wu is expected to submit a preliminary budget to the Boston City Council. These meetings and testimonies will aid in how councilors will review the budget between April 8 and June 3 before sending the final revised budget to the Mayor. 

Mayor Wu is expected to approve the capital budget for FY2027 and FY2031 by July 1, 2026. ■