[24] In May 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department approved a request submitted by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker at the recommendation of the Walsh administration that the Columbia Point census tract, which includes the Bayside Expo Center, be designated as an opportunity zone under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

[36] In October 2020, a 25-person community advisory committee held the first of six meetings scheduled through the following December to review the Bay City development proposal,[37] and in the same month, the Walsh administration released a 174-page climate change adaptation report for the Boston Harbor coastline in Dorchester with a section on Columbia Point and Morrissey Boulevard.

[38][39] In November 2020, the BPDA hosted a pair of virtual public meetings to review the urban design elements, the transportation implications, and the infrastructure specifics of the Bay City development.

[48] In February 2022, UMass Boston faculty members met with members of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association at its monthly meeting to discuss mutual concerns about the Bay City development related to its potential traffic increase, its environmental impact, its planning process, and the amount of affordable housing units in the development (despite the ratio of affordable housing units in the official proposal exceeding city government requirements), and mutually agreed to express their concerns explicitly to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston City Council.

[50] On the 100-days mark of her tenure in office, Mayor Wu cited the Bay City development proposal as highlighting interconnectedness of concerns about climate change, housing affordability, and the design of public spaces.

[56] In May 2022, a community group formed by resident activists delivered a petition with more than 700 signatures to Mayor Wu's office at Boston City Hall supporting a 6-month extension to the BPDA review process while Accordia executives issued a press statement reiterating various community benefit commitments the company agreed to make during the public consultation process over the previous three years.

[57] In August 2022, Governor Baker signed into law an $11 billion transportation infrastructure bond bill that included $250,000 for improvements to the tide gates at Patten's Cove and that established a commission scheduled to assemble later in the same year and issue a report with findings and recommendations to improve the Morrissey Boulevard corridor and Kosciuszko Circle by June 1, 2023 (and that will include multiple state agency executives, the Mayor of Boston, state and local legislators, or their designees).

[61] In December 2022, Accordia Partners filed a revised proposal with the BPDA that reduced the amount of floor space by 350,000 square feet, increased the amount of green and open space to 20 acres, and increased the ratio of affordable housing units to 20 percent,[62][63] while on the same day the revised proposal was filed, Accordia executives met with the planning committee of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association and stated in interviews with the Dorchester Reporter that they hoped to receive BPDA approval for the project by the following summer.

[64] In January 2023, Accordia executives met with the Morrissey community advisory committee to discuss the revised proposal (ahead of public meetings hosted by the BPDA to discuss the revisions) where the committee members praised the modifications,[65] while Accordia executives proposed replacing the Kosciusko Circle rotary with a four-way interchange at one of the public meetings hosted by the BPDA the next month.

Hunt and David Biele, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, and Boston College High School President Grace Cotter Regan wrote letters to the BPDA in support of the proposal.