A new high school or housing? Here’s how Boston could have both.
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION An aerial shot of the P3 parcel along Tremont Street in Boston. (City of Boston Planning Department) A new high school or housing? Here’s how Boston could have both. June 14, 2026 By Lawrence S. DiCara and Joseph Ravenna IV Boston isn’t making land anymore. Despite our best efforts—filling in the Back Bay, Seaport, and much of the harbor—we now must finally face the question of not only where to build, but also whether we have space to build at all. Choosing between hospitals and housing, stores and schools, building in Boston has become a zero-sum game where some interests win and others lose. These trade-offs were on full display earlier this year when the Boston Planning & Development Agency announced it would not keep its previously designated developers for the long-contested Roxbury Parcel 3. Instead of permitting already-planned laboratory space and affordable housing, the BPDA now looks to...