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Northeastern University to break ground on permanent campus in Portland, Maine

On Friday, the university will break ground on a permanent Portland campus — one of 13 in Northeastern’s global university system — that will be home to the Roux Institute and the new Alfond Center.

A rendering of the Portland campus.
Northeastern’s new Portland campus will include the Roux Institute and the new Alfond Center, right. Renderings via CambridgeSeven (Alfond Center) and Bruner/Cott (Bean building)

When Northeastern University launched the Roux Institute in January 2020 — with a $100 million investment from Maine technology entrepreneur David Roux and his wife, Barbara — the goal was to ignite the Rouxs’ vision of a Portland-based research hub that would educate generations of local talent for the digital, artificial intelligence and life sciences sectors, and drive sustained economic growth in northern New England.

On Friday, Sept. 13, the university will break ground on a permanent Portland campus — one of 13 in Northeastern’s global university system — that will be home to the Roux Institute and the new Alfond Center. (Northeastern currently leases space on Fore Street.)

The Harold Alfond Foundation, which also invested $100 million in 2020 to support graduate students, research and co-ops with Maine employers, is making an additional investment in the permanent campus, along with a new commitment from David and Barbara Roux.

The new campus will transform the former industrial site of B&M Baked Beans into a state-of-the-art, multi-building complex that will serve as a hub for education and research about AI and other high-tech, high-growth fields.  

Starting at 9 a.m., the Friday event will convene Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun, David and Barbara Roux, representatives from the Alfond Foundation and elected officials in celebrating this milestone moment on the Portland waterfront.

The new campus will include a variety of buildings to be developed in phases:

-The Alfond Center, a new 245,000-square-foot learning, research and collaboration building that will house wet labs, computational labs, research spaces and classrooms.

-The 58,000-square-foot “Bean” building will undergo major rehabilitation and support innovation and entrepreneurship, providing workspaces for startups and businesses.

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