Fort Point

Mass. Office of Tourism/Flickr

It’s impossible to talk about Fort Point in 2016 without mentioning the General Electric headquarters approved for the enclave. The 2.4-acre campus will include so-called "maker space" for employees, tech startups, students (both university and high school), and locals; ample laboratories; and an employee cafeteria.

The year also brought a proposal for what could be Fort Point’s tallest building: an approximately 200-unit apartment house of more than 20 stories at 7 Channel Center.

Kendall Square

Todd Van Hoosear/Flickr

Cambridge’s Kendall Square exits 2016 pretty much as it entered it: as the No. 1 tech hub in the Boston region. Only the year brought some extra cachet to the area that M.I.T. and hundreds of technology companies, big and small, dominate.

For one thing, there was the feds’ sign-off on M.I.T. as the developer of the Volpe transit site, often called one of the nation’s choicest development parcels. Speaking of M.I.T., the university also moved forward this year with plans for a 28-story dorm in Kendall.

• Fort Point Apartment Building Could Bust Through Area's Height Limit [Curbed Boston]
• General Electric’s Boston headquarters moves closer to 2018 opening date [Curbed Boston]
• M.I.T. picked to build at Kendall Square’s Volpe site [Curbed Boston]
• New M.I.T. dorm in Kendall Square: details and a rendering [Curbed Boston]