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South Station Tower: Now With More Condos, Less Parking

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Construction could start before the end of the year

As expected, the city signed off late last week on the addition of a new financial partner on that long-planned project to plunk a tower atop South Station (and other buildings around it). A wing of Chinese builder Gemdale Properties will join lead developer Hines out of Houston to kickstart a development that traces its roots to the early 1990s.

Last week's signoff also produced some new details about the would-be spire. It's now slated to rise to 51 stories rather than 49, and would have 175 condos on its upper floors rather than 155. The number of parking spaces has shrunk, too, from 755 to 530 (that makes sense: residents would be living above New England's busiest train station).

The single, biggest change is rather meta, though. As the Globe's Tim Logan points out, the tower was once meant to be almost entirely office. "Now the 677-foot tower plan includes luxury condos, a reflection of how downtown Boston’s real estate market has changed in the last 10 years." Indeed.

Even before the alterations, the South Station tower was destined to be one of the 10 tallest in Boston. Hines hopes to start construction before the end of 2016. Stay tuned.