Big Plans to Construct Boston's Third Tallest Tower

A developer has plans to build one of Boston’s tallest buildings in downtown’s Financial District. The 740-foot glass tower will include a 300-room hotel, offices, retail space, a restaurant and 150 luxury condominium units.  Costing as much as $900 million to build, the 900,000-SF skyscraper will add a new showpiece to Boston’s rapidly changing skyline.

The building would be the tallest building in the downtown area and will include a 300-room hotel, retail space, offices, and up to 150 condominiums on the upper floors.

The tower proposal comes during one of the most dynamic periods of construction in the city’s history, as numerous skyscrapers aim to alter the Boston skyline.

At 740 feet, the angular skyscraper would be Boston’s third-tallest structure, behind the 750-foot Prudential building and the 790-foot John Hancock Tower.

An office building at 133 Federal Street would be combined with the new tower at ground level to create a 72,000-square-foot lobby with restaurants and shops.

The complex, called 111 Federal Street will rise on one of the Financial District’s last major development sites, replacing the city-owned Winthrop Square parking garage presently on the site.

Before work can proceed, developer Steve Belkin must negotiate a deal to buy the property from the city.

The dilapidated garage at 111-115 Federal Street will be demolished and replaced with glass storefronts and modern lobbies for the offices and a luxury hotel.

Former Mayor Thomas Menino selected Steve Belkin to redevelop the property in 2006, but the project failed to attract enough tenants amid the economic downturn.

The original plan called for a 1,000-foot office tower, but that proposal was rejected because it would have interfered with air traffic. The new proposal calls for a tower 260 feet shorter.

The building will be one of only a few towers built in the densely packed Financial District since the 1980s. In recent years, tech companies, restaurants and retailers have brought new life to the area.

The project, designed by Boston-based CBT Architects, is expected to begin construction sometime later this year.

Huge Fenway Center Project Preparing to Begin Construction

Fenway Center, one of the largest stalled projects in Boston, is getting ready to begin construction later this Spring. The five-building, 1,300,000-square-foot mega project has secured financing for the project’s two-building first phase, which will include 313 residential units. The project has an estimated price tag of $700 million.

The 1.3 million-square-foot complex will be developed over air rights which span eight lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike. 

The finished project will include 550 apartments and commercial space in five buildings between Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street; 1,290 parking spots, open space, and streetscape improvements. 

Plans also call for a farmers market and a bike-sharing station.

Fenway Center will be among the most transformative development projects in Boston.

Boston regulators approved a $4.6 million tax break to spur construction of a new neighborhood near Fenway Park that would straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike and include hundreds of apartments, stores, restaurants, and offices. 

The tax deal for the $550 million Fenway Center development, negotiated by Mayor Walsh, received unanimous support from the board of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The tax break will provide an important stimulus to a project that promises to create 1,800 construction jobs and boost economic growth.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority voted to petition the City Council for approval of a Special Tax Assessment Agreement between the City of Boston and MK Parcel 7 Development, LLC, the developer of the Fenway Center project.

The project has languished for years due to legal and permitting challenges, and the developer has struggled to generate enough funding to move forward.

The development was approved by the BRA Board in 2011, but has been delayed due to litigation and rising costs.

Fenway Center is particularly costly and complex because it requires construction of a $45 million deck over the Mass Pike to support its main parking garage and a 27-story tower with offices, apartments and stores.

The project would be the first development to be constructed on air rights over the turnpike since Copley Place was built in the 1980s.

“We are going to cover up the highway and build a new neighborhood out of thin air,” said John Rosenthal, president of developer Meredith Management Corp.

Fenway Center will combine:

•     Fully funded, energy neutral MBTA Yawkey Commuter Rail Station
•     1,290 Parking Spaces including 750 shared-use spaces
•     500 Residential Apartments including 10% on-site affordable units and 5% offsite
•     170,000 SF of Office Space
•     Over 90,000 SF of Retail Space
•     Over 30,000 SF of Parks and Green Spaces
•     Bicycle Storage and a Bicycle Share Station
•     Community Space
•     Daycare Center

The tax relief is structured to help fund construction of the project’s retail spaces, not its apartments. The deal will reduce the project’s taxes over a six-year period during its construction and early years of operation.

After its completion, Fenway Center is expected to generate about $5 million a year in taxes. The developer would also pay the state $226 million to lease the 4.5-acre development site over 99 years.

Currently, the property generates about $152,000 a year.

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Real Construction to Get Underway on $2.1 Billion Wynn Casino

The cranes are in the air, dust is kicking up, and more than 500 construction workers are preparing for the actual building of the $2.1 billion Wynn Boston Harbor resort, which is expected to open in June 2019. Bob DeSalvio, president of the company’s Boston location, said “there’s no stopping us now; onward and upward to the opening of Wynn Boston Harbor.”

Although pre-construction and utility work for the massive project began last August, the 34-month construction timeline will see its first upward construction by the end of this year, with the full structure framed by the end of 2017.
 
The $2.1 billion project will include a five-star resort with more than 500 hotel rooms, high-end retail and dining, a ballroom and meeting space.

The development will be spread over 33 acres of Mystic River waterfront with paths open to the general public leading to the harbor and more retail and dining overlooking the riverwalk.

The "family-friendly" casino-resort will take at least two years to build.

The design of the casino-resort would mimic local architecture: "If you like the way the Boston skyline looks, you'll love our building," says Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn. The buildings will have a classic brick look on the lower floors and a glassy Vegas look as the building rise.

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The casino developer also has plans for a fleet of custom-built catamarans ferrying conventioneers and tourists from Long Wharf in downtown Boston and the World Trade Center in the Seaport district, to his riverfront gambling palace in Everett

As many as three water taxis would be in service at one time, leaving as frequently as 20 minutes apart.

Wynn Resorts insists the water shuttle service would reduce car traffic over already congested roads to the proposed resort.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission granted Wynn Resorts the sole casino license based on economic factors, opportunities and jobs.

The company’s proposal offered a bigger development plan, strong financing, a large construction investment, and a big projected workforce and payroll.

The Greater Boston casino license is projected to be worth about $800 million to more than $900 million a year in gambling revenue.

 

Presently, workers are involved with cleaning up the Mystic River and the site, which once was home to a Monsanto chemical plant.

Wynn will be the only full resort casino in the Boston area. The state gaming commission has also licensed a resort casino in Springfield and a slots parlor in Plainville, which has been open for about 13 months.

The official Grand Opening is slated for June 3, 2019.

Plans to Construct Six New Office Towers in Government Center

Developers plan to construct a huge 528-foot glass skyscraper at the corner of Congress and New Sudbury streets. The curvy 47-story tower would be the centerpiece of a Government Center redevelopment project, where builders are preparing to construct a cluster of high-rises to replace portions of the Government Center Garage.

The project, estimated to cost well over $1 billion, will include construction of three high-rises and three smaller buildings containing more than 2.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

The project will begin with a 42-story residential tower with 450 rental and condominium units, followed by removal of the part of the garage that hangs over Congress Street and the construction of the 47-story office building. The developer wants to begin construction later this year.

The new office tower, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, would be an unusually dramatic building for Boston, a city that has shied away from the kind of eye-popping architecture that defines the skylines of other major cities.

In all, the project would result in six buildings containing 2.3 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

Three high-rises would be built on the western portion of the site, and three smaller buildings would be built along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

A retail plaza would create a new connection between the Greenway and Canal Street.

While the portion of the garage above the street would be demolished, the core of the building at Congress and New Sudbury would remain, preserving 1,100 parking spaces. That part of the garage would be hidden behind the new high-rises.

The development has received approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, but plans for each building must also be approved by the agency’s design commission. BRA director Brian Golden has offered strong support for the project.

“The redevelopment of the Government Center Garage site will reshape the downtown skyline in a way that few projects can,” he said. “We welcome a creative approach to its design and look forward to working with the architecture team to review their proposal more carefully.”

Developer Tom O’Brien, a principal of HYM Investment Group, said the project’s architecture is meant to call attention to the vast change it would bring to the city’s downtown.

He noted that it would remove one of the area’s worst eyesores, a relic of the Urban Renewal Era, and reconnect the Bulfinch Triangle to the North End and Beacon Hill.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven is collaborating on the design with CBT Architects of Boston.

The project's primary investor is the National Electrical Benefit Fund.

Boston is experiencing a burst of real estate development, transforming much of its downtown and outlying neighborhoods. A retail and condominium tower is under construction at the former Filene’s site in Downtown Crossing. Additional towers are being proposed at Winthrop Square in the Financial District and at the site of the Harbor Garage on Atlantic Avenue.

In the Bulfinch Triangle, Related Beal is building a new headquarters for Converse Inc., and Boston Properties plans to construct a series of towers in front of the TD Garden.