The complex will provide recreational opportunities to all students, faculty and staff in addition to hosting ceremonies and other public and private events for the Northeastern and neighboring Boston communities.
Northeastern University is moving forward with plans to build a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex on the site of Matthews Arena in Boston.
University leaders describe the new complex as an investment in the future that will provide recreational opportunities to all students, faculty and staff in addition to hosting ceremonies and other public and private events for the Northeastern and neighboring Boston communities.
The new multi-purpose complex will include a modern Division 1 athletics arena and training facilities that will elevate Northeastern’s varsity athletic programs, especially in the nationally recognized sports of basketball and ice hockey.
“This is a place where memories will be made,” says Ken Henderson, chancellor and senior vice president for learning at Northeastern. “This will be a place where we hold convocation, where we hold graduations, where we hold events for recreation, club sports and varsity sports. It will also be a place where students are coming together in small groups and large crowds.
“It will be transformational,” Henderson says.
The 310,000-square-foot complex will occupy the entire two-acre footprint of Matthews Arena, including areas currently used as surface parking lots.
It will include an arena that will seat 4,050 people for ice hockey and 5,300 for basketball, providing excellent sightlines for fans as well as for television broadcasts of Northeastern competitions. It will be Northeastern’s largest indoor gathering space, also enabling thousands of people to attend academic ceremonies and other non-athletic events.
The most profound improvement of the new multi-story complex is its commitment to serving a wide variety of university and community interests simultaneously, with an emphasis on student recreation.
Its multi-purpose nature will create myriad opportunities that cannot be matched by Matthews Arena, Henderson says.
“We love Matthews Arena, but it is a single-use space. It’s an arena where you can do one thing at a time,” Henderson says. “The new complex will have multiple events and activities going on at the same time. You could be having a hockey game at the same time as you’re having a club soccer game on the floor above — and perhaps a varsity basketball practice is being held, while other students are lifting weights and doing cardiovascular training at an individual level.”
Students will welcome greater access to recreational facilities, says Ella Freedman, a second-year undergraduate studying music industry and communication studies.
“I do think students — especially freshmen and new people coming in — will be excited about it,” Freedman says. “Everyone wants more space to work out. So that is a huge benefit for students and something a lot of people will look forward to. Having enough space for students to feel encouraged to have a healthy lifestyle is really important.”
The investment in a new complex will be worthwhile, says Emma Sullivan, who will be graduating with a degree in journalism and English in May.
“I won’t be a student by the time the new complex opens, but I do think it will be a really great opportunity for the next generations of Northeastern students,” Sullivan says. “Getting the opportunity to grow in that space is going to be really cool.”
Jim Madigan, a former ice hockey star and men’s coach at Northeastern who now serves as the university’s athletic director, envisions the new complex thrusting the Husky varsity programs to a higher competitive level.
“For our varsity sports, this building signals to our peers and our competitors that Northeastern represents excellence,” Madigan says. “It is going to be a game-changer for our programs to recruit the best student-athletes to Northeastern. It signals to them that we’re serious about the development and success of our student-athletes and it signals to our coaches that this is a place where we can win national championships and league championships, where we have the modern-day amenities to compete against any institution in the country.”
The men’s and women’s varsity basketball programs will each have a practice court, which will be a boon to recruiting, according to Madigan. There will be improved training facilities and office spaces for varsity athletes and coaches. An example of the new building’s versatility will be the presence of indoor rowing tanks for the men’s and women’s varsity teams.
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For spectators, the arena will offer a “first-rate fan experience” with high-end concessions and multiple entry and exit points. Fans will be seated near the action with a dedicated section behind one of the hockey goals for the DogHouse, providing the Huskies with an impassioned advantage for home games.
“The building is going to offer food and entertainment and excitement and enjoyment,” Madigan says. “This is a complex that will be bringing people together. It’s going to create a sense of community, a sense of belonging throughout the university.”
The multipurpose athletic complex is the next step in an extended series of infrastructure investments on Northeastern’s Boston campus that have included the developments of International Village, East Village, the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex and EXP.
Since its 1979 purchase by Northeastern, Matthews Arena has served as a community venue for high school graduations and other events. That access will grow when the new complex is opened, says John Tobin, Northeastern’s vice president for city and community engagement.
“This new complex will allow us to increase our offerings with our neighbors and with our great partners in the City of Boston,” Tobin says. “It’s going to be more than just a building. It will serve as a vital part of Boston’s civic community from concerts to blood drives to Boston Public School ice hockey games. It will bring people together in ways that matter.”
Matthews Arena was originally constructed in 1910 and rebuilt in 1918 after a devastating fire. At that time it was known as Boston Arena, and over the years it would serve as a home to the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics in addition to a wide variety of sporting, cultural and community events.
It was renamed by Northeastern in 1982 in honor of George Matthews, who would rise to chairman of the Board of Trustees, and his wife, Hope.
Northeastern has invested millions of dollars in renovations of Matthews Arena over the years. The replacement of its historic features predating Northeastern’s ownership makes Matthews Arena ineligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a 2023 evaluation conducted by Epsilon Associates.
The new complex, designed by the architectural firm Perkins&Will, is pursuing net-zero carbon certification and the deconstruction of the existing arena will capture reclaimed materials. Suffolk Construction is the contractor for the project, which will reuse rainwater for ice making, irrigation, and flushing, among other green initiatives.
During construction, the men’s and women’s basketball programs will move their games and practices to the Cabot Physical Education Center. Northeastern is making arrangements with local facilities to host the men’s and women’s hockey practices and games.
The project is awaiting final approvals from the city and state, which will determine the timelines for deconstruction and construction.