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Catholic Archdiocese opens its Braintree headquarters
Boston archdiocese’s HQ move is expected to save money

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The Patriot Ledger
Posted Jun 30, 2008 @ 08:19 AM

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BRAINTREE —
Braintree is the new home of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

About 225 employees were to show up today for their first day of work in 140,000 square feet of space at 66 Brooks Drive.

The administrative offices of the archdiocese had been across from Boston College in Brighton since the late 1920s.

Billionaire real estate developer Thomas Flatley of Milton sold the four-story building at 66 Brooks Drive to the archdiocese for less than $100 last year.

Flatley died in May at age 76 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Irish-born developer was an important benefactor to the Catholic church and had served on the archdiocese’s financial council.

The building, which had been assessed for $14.3 million, is now exempt from property taxes. Prior to the sale, the most recent tax bill for the property was $274,993.

The renovated building will house all departments that were at the archdiocese’s Brighton campus, plus other agencies serving the region’s 2.1 million Catholics. It also will have 4,500 cubic feet of archival storage.

Renovations include a chapel that is to be completed in the fall.

The consolidation is expected to help the financially strapped archdiocese.

Last year, the archdiocese sold its Brighton headquarters to Boston College for $65 million.

The recent clergy sex abuse scandal cost the archdiocese about $90 million in a settlement with more than 550 abuse victims.

The archdiocese decided later to close or consolidate 64 parishes in addition to selling other real estate holdings.

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