If rain is good luck, as Boston Legacy FC controlling owner Jennifer Epstein put it on Friday, then her soccer team should expect an undefeated season next year.
Epstein stood under a tent on Friday at what was supposed to be a topping-off ceremony for the rebuilding of White Stadium underway in Franklin Park. The 45-minute event started out amid a light drizzle, and ended up in a biblical deluge. Thundercracks replaced the sounds of the construction crews, punctuated by periodic lightning flashes.
A “topping off” usually involves placing the final structural iron beam in place, often signed by workers and local dignitaries. In this case, the final beam remained grounded, for the safety of the ironworkers. A city spokesperson said the beam will go up sometime this week, in the rooftop press box, 60 feet above the ground.
“Getting here has taken determination, patience, and a tremendous amount of work from so many people,” Epstein told the crowd. “We wanted to create a club that would become part of the fabric of this city.”
It’s going to take a little longer for that to happen. Although city officials say the project will be done sometime next fall, Boston Legacy FC has already announced it will play its second season at the Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket next year, and start playing at the 10,500-seat White Stadium in 2028. This year, the team alternated between Centreville and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
During the ceremony, no one mentioned the litigation, ultimately unsuccessful, filed by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy to block the project, or at least force it to undergo state legislative approval, arguing that it involves a change in use of parkland. (The Supreme Judicial Court ultimately ruled in favor of the city and the soccer team, in part because the stadium is going up on Boston Public Schools land within the park.) City officials are currently accepting feedback from neighbors on a transportation plan for game days.
Also unmentioned: the stadium’s ultimate projected cost of $325 million, up from early estimates of around $100 million in mid-2024. The Wu administration is paying $135 million, covering the cost of one side for student-athlete use, while the Boston Legacy FC ownership is paying for the rest.
Frank Hayes, president of Bond Building Construction, delivered what was perhaps the shortest speech shortly after the thunder and lightning began. “It’s certainly very complicated, not without its challenges,” Hayes said of the project, and maybe the stormy weather. “But we’re making great progress.”
For Mayor Michelle Wu, a driving force behind this project, getting it this far represents another victory. At the topping-off ceremony, she hailed the “once-in-a-generation partnership” between BPS and the soccer team that’s delivering a revamped White Stadium, something her predecessors failed to pull off.
“Today is proof that dreaming big is worth it,” Wu said. “It’s proof that as a city we can take big swings and make real change possible.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.