Before a bank of television cameras in a room full of reporters, University President William P. Leahy, SJ, and Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley, OFM, delivered the news on April 20 that many local observers had been anticipating since December. Agreement had been reached, sealed with a handshake, for Boston College to purchase 43 acres of the 64.5-acre expanse owned by the archdiocese diagonally across Commonwealth Avenue from BC's lower campus. The executive committee of the University's Board of Trustees had conferred by telephone the night before, sometime after the last Patriot's Day marathoners had shuffled past the two campuses, and approved a purchase price of $99.4 million.
While the archdiocese's intention to sell and the University's interest in buying were well known, the magnitude of the sale exceeded previous announcements of the property to be put on the market (originally, 27.6 acres) by more than half. Included in the purchase, in addition to the parcel's broad rolling lawns, are St. William's Hall, a partially occupied administrative building; St. Clement's Hall, which the University now leases for offices; and the imposing Renaissance Revival mansion that was home to Boston