All fall, the town of Wellesley had been on a quest: to claim some of the last un-developed land in the area, the College’s 47-acre tract called the North 40. In December, there were smiles at town hall when the Wellesley College Board of Trustees accepted the town’s offer to purchase the land for $35 million.

该决定是一项过程中开始的过程中，当学院提起了与马萨诸塞州最高司法法院（SJC）提起申请的过程，寻求删除南部40个包裹在135号公路和Munger的铁路上使用北40包裹的限制危险四肢。5月5日，SJC授予该请求，清除Wellesley销售，租赁或开发土地的方式。

Over the summer and fall, the College completed numerous assessments of the property and received 13 proposals for the purchase of the land. In the end, “Our long-standing history of constructive partnership with the town led us to choose its proposal, based on its responsiveness to the issue of open space, sustainability, and impact on neighbors and town services,” President H. Kim Bottomly and Laura Daignault Gates ’72, chair of the board of trustees, said in a joint statement on Dec. 18, 2014.

协议条款包括：

• 维持南部40种面积的至少50％作为持续的开放空间;
• 保护渡槽南部的物业部分作为自然，森林的开放空间，以缓冲校园沿线135号航线;
• agreement by the town not to put a road within 1,000 feet of the College’s Route 135 entrance;
• provision for the future of the community gardens, including the Regeneration student farm;
• protection from light pollution per the International Dark-Sky Association guidelines;
• and adoption of standards for sustainable development on the property equivalent to the College’s own, which target LEED Gold.

该协议还规定，学院的声音将包括在城市规划中，为土地的未来;学院将在北40规划委员会有两名代表。纽约镇发言人唐麦克莱尼（Don McCauley）指出，购买将提供机会“保护开放空间，满足市政需求，并确保继续进入Wellesley居民的娱乐场所。”

董事会椅盖茨注意到，虽然该镇的出价具有竞争力，但这不是最高的报价。然而，这是符合大学的标准的。“这么多的许多通信我们[夏天和北方40岁以下]都是关于这家房产到富勒斯利镇的重要性。 … And we recognize that, and they presented a very strong and competitive proposal,” says Gates.

The proceeds from the sale will support the Campus Renewal plan, a $365-million-plus effort for the renovation, repair, and maintenance of buildings and grounds to better meet the residential and academic needs of the College in the future (see“Wellesley Reimagined,”spring ’14 issue). The College anticipates that the sale of the land will become final as soon as late spring, after a number of contractual requirements are met.