Demolition crews are now gutting Matthews Arena on Northeastern University's Boston campus, marking the beginning of the end for a building that opened in 1910 and has hosted generations of hockey, basketball and civic events. The university is clearing the site to make room for a new 310,000-square-foot athletics and recreation complex, a project publicly pegged at about $310 million.
Workers have been stripping out interior fixtures and prepping the old arena for a staged teardown as heavier equipment arrives this month. According to Boston Business Journal, the raze is part of a roughly $310 million plan to build the new facility. Northeastern has described the replacement as a 310,000-square-foot, multi-purpose complex that will seat about 4,050 for hockey and 5,300 for basketball and that will include expanded recreation, training and event space, according to Northeastern Global News.
Opened as the Boston Arena in 1910, Matthews became one of the nation's oldest multipurpose athletic buildings and over the decades hosted early Bruins and Celtics games, the first Beanpot and a long list of civic events, according to WBUR. Local coverage tracked the arena's final events late last year along with Northeastern's efforts to preserve memorabilia, and The Boston Globe reported that the university has been selling salvaged bricks and stadium seats to fans as part of the clear-out.
How Crews Will Take It Down
Northeastern and its contractor say the work will be a careful, piece-by-piece deconstruction rather than an explosive demolition in order to protect surrounding buildings and nearby transit lines. Northeastern Global News reports that Suffolk Construction will lead the effort, salvaging the historic arch and thousands of bricks for reuse and recycling structural steel and concrete. University officials say the deconstruction will roll directly into foundation and steel work so the new building can rise without a long pause.
Teams, Timeline And Neighborhood Impacts
Northeastern has arranged temporary homes and practice sites for varsity teams while the site is cleared and rebuilt, and athletics officials are coordinating with local partners on schedules. Local reporting says the university has lined up nearby college and community rinks and gyms to host games and practices during construction. The project, designed by Perkins&Will with associate architect DREAM Collaborative and pursuing net-zero certification, is slated for an opening in the fall of 2028, pending approvals, according to WCVB and local coverage of the unveiling.
For longtime fans and neighborhood residents the teardown is likely to feel bittersweet, while the university frames the replacement as adding capacity and community uses that Matthews could not provide. “This is a place where memories will be made,” Chancellor Ken Henderson said in university statements as the work began, and officials say select artifacts from the old arena will be preserved and incorporated into the new complex.
