New Sports Center to Honor Memory of Boston Marathon Bombing Victim

A groundbreaking will be held on Thursday, April 17, on a project that will honor the legacy of one of the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

The Fieldhouse+ is an athletic center and community space near Columbia Point in Dorchester, a joint project between the Martin Richard Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester. The $70 million project will feature basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, kitchens, meeting spaces, and a theater when completed.

This new center will honor 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed by a terrorist's bomb at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. 

His father, Bill Richard, said the project keeps Martin's spirit alive.

“It makes our family feel that we continue to fight for him and build a legacy for him,” Richard said in an interview with The Boston Globe. “This type of work keeps me going.”

After Martin's death, the Richard family turned to philanthropy. They turned their loss into a desire to help others. As of April 16, the Martin Richard Foundation has donated $10 million to charitable causes across the Boston community.

The Fieldhouse+ has been in planning for several years. Boston Public Schools leased the parcel of land to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester for the construction of the facility. The organization will operate the facility once completed.

Residents around the new center have expressed concerns about construction, partly because it will be located in a neighborhood that will soon experience new development.

Residents around the new center have expressed concerns about construction, partly because it will be located in a neighborhood that will soon experience new development.

The project underwent several years of design changes, many of them suggested by the neighborhood youth the program will ultimately serve. To date, $43 million has already been raised, and significant support from political and philanthropic leaders has given the green light to proceed with construction.

“We have a pathway we see to the goal of $70 million,” Bob Scannell, head of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester, told The Boston Globe. “And that's why we're ready to go in.”