ConDig (01-Jun–23) Swedish developer and contractor Skanska has come top of the class in order to secure a $311 million deal to build a residence and campus center for a university in Boston.

The company said it had signed a contract to build Simmons University’s new Living and Learning Center on their academic campus, located in the Longwood Medical area of Boston.

This project is the final phase of ‘One Simmons’, which consolidates all of the University facilities onto one campus. This project is a decades-long strategic master plan designed to support the Simmons mission as one of the only remaining women’s centered universities in the country.

The approximately 37,000 sqm Living and Learning Center will include a student dormitory with over 1,000 student beds, meeting, and social spaces along with office support spaces and a 500-seat dining facility. In addition, an athletics and fitness facility will include a pool, gymnasium, rowing tanks and weight room. 

The building will also accommodate an existing central electrical plant and emergency generator, which serve the academic buildings on the existing campus.

Work will begin on the contract this month and is scheduled for completion in September 2026. After Simmons takes occupancy of the Living and Learning Center, Skanska said it will start the development of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area.

The company has closed on a land investment with Simmons University and secured the development rights for a 158k sqm development, Longwood Place, in the Longwood Medical Area. The initial investment is $344 million.

In April, Skanska landed a $67 million supplemental contract for a manufacturing facility in the western United States.