Fall Campus Construction Update at BU—Starring Warren Towers
Fall Campus Construction Update at BU—Starring Warren Towers
Capital improvements across Boston University are visible throughout the Charles River and Medical Campuses
The exterior of Warren Towers may offer few clues, but significant progress was made this summer on the major construction project underway at Boston University’s largest residence. The three 18-story towers normally housing 1,800 undergrads are currently undergoing a $550 million renovation, slated for completion by summer 2028.
This summer’s focus was on Tower A, and Michelle Maheu, associate vice president for planning design and construction, says the team learned a lot of lessons with this first endeavor—developing a more efficient way to perform work so crews could flow more quickly from floor to floor. “I keep telling everyone, by the time we are done with the third tower, we’ll want a fourth, because we’ll be so good at this,” Maheu jokes.
The work this summer focused largely on the infrastructure supporting Tower A, such as piping, electrical wiring, and fire alarm systems. “It was extremely challenging because the work was within the ceiling of the fourth floor dining hall,” she says. “We had to get this work done, and restore the dining [facility] because of the students’ return, meaning we had a limited time window to do a tremendous amount of work.”
Each tower will be taken offline and unoccupied for about 15 months, then will be ready to open for the start of the next year’s fall semester. When the work is completed, Warren will boast new plumbing and security systems, air-conditioning, infrastructure to support 21st-century information technology, a remodeled dining hall with new equipment, a new student lounge and gathering spaces, and net-zero greenhouse emissions.
“I’ve been here for almost 40 years,” says Colleen McGinty, assistant vice president for annual capital projects. “Warren is probably the largest project that we have done since I’ve been here. We’ve done Data Sciences [Duan Center for Computing & Data Sciences], FitRec, Agganis Arena. But the complexity of Warren has been years of planning.”
The Warren renovation is just one of many construction projects on the Charles River and Medical Campuses that started this summer and will continue this fall. Overseen by Campus Planning & Operations (CPO), these dozens of projects include a mix of new builds, renovations, and classroom and technology upgrades.
“The key themes I noticed from this summer and fall’s projects are sustainability, making continued improvements to infrastructure—evident in places like Warren Towers—and making campus even more accessible,” Maheu says. “It was a super busy summer.” This year’s summer and fall work is in addition to the daily upkeep required to maintain BU’s more than 300 buildings and grounds, spread over three urban campuses. Below are eight other campus construction projects, both ongoing or completed, worth noting. Find the complete list here.
Mugar Memorial Library
771 Commonwealth Ave.
In her Fall 2024 State of the University letter, BU President Melissa Gilliam announced that the City of Boston had approved the 2024-2026 Institutional Master Plan (IMP). One of the projects in this plan is a renovation to Mugar, BU’s principal library. This summer, the CPO team made progress in the design phase, meeting regularly with library staff to discuss programming needs and floor plans and to get their input on the redesign.
Exploratory construction work also wrapped this summer. Design and development will continue for many more months.
College of General Studies Classrooms
871 Commonwealth Ave.
The team renovated two fixed-tier seating (auditorium-style) classrooms on the fifth floor of CGS. These rooms are used by students across the Charles River Campus, and the renovations to them included new AV technology and new finishes and furniture, while improving viewing sightlines and acoustics. Additionally, the HVAC systems were upgraded for these spaces.
BU Academy Façade
One University Road
BU Academy’s building was originally constructed in 1931 as the home of the Shell Oil Company, part of Commonwealth Avenue’s historic Auto Mile. Today, the building’s origins are still visible in the scallop motif on the concrete façade of the structure.
But after almost a century of Boston winters, the façade is in need of reinforcement. The plan is for the decorative panels to be removed and recast using 3D laser scanning. The replicas will then be reinstalled. “It’s been a noisy process to remove those panels, and it will be a noisy process to install the new panels, but it needs to be done,” McGinty says. The renovation is expected to be completed by August 2026.
College of Communication Studios
808 Commonwealth Ave.
About a decade ago, the College of Communication created two production studios for its students at 300 Babcock Street. “Since then the program has done nothing but grow, so we realized we needed more studio space,” McGinty says. COM is expanding into underutilized space on the fifth floor of 808 Commonwealth Ave, and four new studios, storage space, and new bathrooms will be built. Set to open at the beginning of the 2026 academic year, the new space will span 12,000 square feet and serve as a central location for students in cinematography, directing, producing, postproduction, and screenwriting to collaborate on projects.
Hariri Building Roof
595 Commonwealth Ave./One Silber Way
This summer, work wrapped up on replacing the roof and repairing the terraces and balconies of the building that houses the Questrom School of Business and several University administrative offices.
Chemistry Department Teaching Labs
712 Beacon Street
In November, a gut renovation will commence on the 40-year-old chemistry teaching labs on the first floor of 712 Beacon Street. Serving over 1,000 students per year, these spaces serve as the primary teaching facility for introductory chemistry courses. Scheduled for completion in fall 2026, the renewed spaces will offer flexible learning environments that enhance mobility, support adaptability, and accommodate evolving teaching needs.
Brownstone Renovations
126 Bay State Road and 13 Buswell Street
Facilities Management & Operations (FMO) spent the summer renovating two historic brownstones to add housing for 50 undergraduates. Both buildings were enhanced for accessibility, sustainability, and the student living experience.
Rod Hochman Family Clinical Skills and Simulation Center
72 East Concord Street
This sixth floor of the Medical Campus Instructional Building has undergone a full gut renovation to house the new Rod Hochman Family Clinical Skills and Simulation Center.
The 13,500-square-foot facility is designed to help MD, physician assistant, mental health, and genetic counseling students get experience dealing with and “treating” patient-actors as well as with high-tech, full-body simulators. There are four simulated emergency/hospital rooms with mannequins and ultrasound devices where students learn how to treat and triage in a hospital setting alongside other medical professionals, as well as 13 standard patient exam rooms and 13 clinical skills labs.
The space was funded by a gift from BU alumni Rod Hochman (CAS’79, CAMED’79) and Nancy Hochman (Sargent’77,’83).