Frosty relations between the Wu administration and Kraft Group over the Krafts’ plan to build a new professional soccer stadium in Everett have become icier, as the two sides work to hammer out a community mitigation agreement for Boston.
Internal emails sent between representatives from the Wu administration and the Krafts’ New England Revolution and obtained by the Herald indicate that the two sides remain far apart in negotiations, with only a few months to find common ground before state law dictates that a mediator step in to settle matters.
“The city has reviewed the Kraft Group’s initial offer of $750,000 in mitigation and finds it unacceptable as a starting point for discussion,” Kairos Shen, Boston’s chief of planning, wrote in a Jan. 22 email to Revs President Brian Bilello.
Bilello had proposed the amount in a Dec. 5 email as a “one-time financial donation” that would go toward Charlestown’s athletic fields. It was later dismissed by Shen as “totaling just 1.1% of a $68 million mitigation agreement” that related to the construction of an “adjacent” casino in Everett nine years ago.
“We hope that the Revolution will closely reexamine its starting position, considering the Encore precedent, and engage more forthrightly with the city on this important and ambitious project,” Shen wrote.
Shen’s email also references Mayor Michelle Wu’s longstanding position, that Boston was excluded from the process to bring a new stadium to Everett, despite the traffic and other impacts that would be felt by the city, particularly in nearby Charlestown.
“The recently-enacted economic development bill requires the Kraft Group to negotiate a community benefits agreement with the City of Boston to mitigate the project’s impact on Boston and its neighborhoods,” Shen wrote.
“The Wu administration advocated successfully for the requirement after learning in 2023 that the Kraft Group had negotiated a full agreement with the City of Everett, but chose not to engage with Boston.”
The Revs’ president first reached out to the Wu administration about starting negotiations in late November, days after the economic development bill, which cleared the way for a new Everett stadium and park, was signed into state law. It freed up 43 acres of land along the Mystic River for the project.
After putting off responding to Bilello’s Dec. 5 mitigation proposal and several of his follow-up emails, by saying he was “waiting to hear how Mayor Wu wants to proceed,” Shen sent an email last week dismissing the Krafts’ mitigation payment.
Shen’s Jan. 22 response was sent a day after sources confirmed to the Herald and other media outlets that Josh Kraft had decided to enter the 2025 mayoral race and challenge Wu.
Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head of the family’s philanthropic arm, plans to formally announce his mayoral bid in early February.
“While we appreciate your email, it is regrettable that it has taken so long (more than eight weeks for the city to substantively engage,” Bilello wrote in an emailed response to Shen, also sent on Jan. 22.
“Please note that we have not at any time excluded the City of Boston from participation in the regulatory review process for this project. The project is located in, and will primarily benefit and impact, Everett.”
Bilello also said that when considering the development of a community mitigation agreement, it would be more accurate to compare the Krafts’ privately-funded Everett stadium plan to Boston’s public-private-funded plan to rebuild White Stadium for a new professional women’s soccer team.
He said the “community benefit agreement for the White Stadium project includes many of the same concepts that are included in our (memorandum of agreement) with the City of Everett.”
That Everett mitigation agreement includes $5 million for a community center, $10 million for a housing stabilization fund, and an on-site parking limit of 75 spaces, according to a copy reviewed by the Herald.
“As someone who is looking at a 100% privately-financed stadium, we certainly appreciate how the city has supported the project at White Stadium,” Bilello wrote.
While a new pro women’s soccer expansion team would move into a rehabbed White Stadium, the New England Revolution, a men’s team, would be looking to move from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, which it shares with the Patriots.
“We understand that our project may have impacts beyond the City of Everett, and we are prepared to mitigate those impacts, as demonstrated by the voluntary donation of $750,000 for the benefit of Charlestown athletics, which we consider to be meaningful and to benefit the Boston neighborhood that may be impacted by our project in Everett,” Bilello wrote.
“We look forward to negotiating a fair agreement with the City of Boston that may include programmatic and other similar benefits to mitigate the impacts of our project on the city.”
The Wu administration and Kraft Group both acknowledged the ongoing negotiations when asked about the email exchange, which was previously reported by the Boston Globe, on Friday.
“Mayor Wu believes the proposed Revolution Stadium is an important opportunity for Greater Boston,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement. “The city looks to secure a fair community benefits agreement that will address the impacts on Boston’s neighborhoods and residents.
“Chief of Planning Kairos Shen has been in touch with the project proponents, with plans to coordinate a staff-level meeting between the parties in the coming weeks.”
Bilello’s statement mentions his repeated outreach and attempts to initiate a meeting since the bill’s passage last fall, and disappointment with only having received “our first substantive response this past week.”
“But we are looking forward to sitting down and working something out as soon as possible to move this forward,” Bilello said.
The economic development bill mandates mediation if the two sides do not enter into a community mitigation agreement by May 1.
In Everett, a spokesperson for Mayor Carlo DeMaria said Friday that while there has been no email traffic between his administration, the Revs or the Kraft Group since the bill’s passage, the mayor and his administration have had discussions with Kraft representatives “and expect conversations to bring the project to fruition will continue.”
