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Boston chooses Millennium Tower developer for Winthrop Square project

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750-foot spire would be city’s tallest primarily residential building

The city has picked Millennium Partners, the same Manhattan-based firm behind Downtown Crossing’s Millennium Tower and Millennium Place, to develop a tower at Winthrop Square in Boston’s downtown.

Millennium’s proposed 750-foot, 55-floor tower would be the third-tallest in Boston, and the tallest primarily residential one. Handel Architects, the same firm behind Millennium Tower, would design this one.

Negotiations are still ongoing and there are some sticking points, but the talks between developer and city appear to cap one of the more high-profile development searches in a while.

A half-dozen builders had vied to redevelop the city-owned Winthrop Square Garage, with all putting forth grand plans that in some way involved a ginormous spire.

Millennium’s mixed-use approach appears to have won officials over. The top 36 floors of the tower would be condos, with the next 14 stories as offices. Then, toward the bottom, Millennium plans to construct retail and restaurant space as well as public space that includes a so-called great hall, which the developer is calling "Boston’s living room." The tower would also include incubator space for tech startups.

What is not included in the plans—and what the city wanted—is an observation deck. That’s one sticking point (Millennium’s response: that great hall). Also, per Tim Logan in the Globe, there are concerns over the height itself: The tower might obstruct flight paths in and out of Logan.

Stay tuned.