District Hall, once the Seaport’s only public civic gathering place, remains closed more than a year beyond the renovation timeline given to the community.

This building on Seaport Boulevard shut its doors in January 2024. It was previously used for community meetings, civic functions and elections.

At the time, WS Development, the property’s manager, told the community the closure would last no more than six to ten months. Eighteen months later, the building remains shuttered, and the company has not provided an updated reopening schedule.

In a statement given over email, WS Development said, “We're excited to unveil this reimagined hub for collaboration and celebration in the coming months,” but did not respond to multiple attempts `to clarify a timeline or reason for the prolonged closure.

“There’s no city of Boston civic space in the 02210 zip code,” said Tom Ready, a leader at the Fort Point Neighborhood Association (FPNA).

“The neighborhoods have been advocating for that going back to when the Seaport was laid out, going back 20 years. That is failure in the execution of the plan to create and designate civic space.”

Before the shutdown, the FPNA held monthly meetings at the hall, and the city used the space for voting in the 2022 and 2023 elections. Since then, residents have been making do with less than ideal alternatives.

“It’s honestly required a bit more work on our end to secure space when we need it,” Ready said. “In the past, it was District Hall regardless of the size of the meeting. In January, we’d book the full year. Now, we have to reserve space in two locations and make a decision on what we think the attendance will be.”

“Frankly, it’s more of a problem with the election. We’re now in the second or third location since this happened. We’re voting in the lobby of a commercial building,” Ready continued.

The unpredictability requires volunteers for the neighborhoods’ various civic organizations to jump through extra hoops to keep the community engaged and informed.

District Hall opened in 2013 as part of an agreement between the city and Seaport developers, intended to provide a civic anchor in a neighborhood dominated by private development.

The owner at the time, Morgan Stanely, reached an agreement with the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) to provide the civic space as part of a payment in lieu of taxes program. When WS Development purchased the property as part of the Seaport Square development project, they agreed to honor the remainder of the 10-year agreement.

In 2023, District Hall came up in a BPDA “South Boston Waterfront Library Needs Assessment” as an ideal central location for a potential library. However, a statement from the BPDA affirmed that the city is not participating in planning or funding any construction at the privately owned parcel.

“The need for libraries is fairly well-documented. We’d just have to make sure it has a community room big enough to support public gatherings and voting,” Ready said. “We kind of look around and see public services that are available in other communities, paid for and sponsored by the city, that just aren’t available in our neighborhood because the space isn’t available.”