A scaled-back proposal to build a primarily residential tower over the Massachusetts Turnpike next to the Hynes Convention Center won a key approval from the Boston Planning & Development Agency on March 15.

Developer Weiner Ventures had originally proposed building two buildings where Massachusetts Avenue meets Boylston Street: One 566 feet and 39 stories, the other 283 feet and 24 stories.

The newly passed proposal includes plans for just one of those towers—and it would now reach to 484 feet and 27 floors. It would include 108 condos atop two floors of retail and restaurant space as well as two levels of parking.

All of what the developer calls 1000 Boylston Street would straddle the Mass. Pike and extend Boston’s famed High Spine. In fact, 1000 Boylston would be the first project in decades to use air rights to build over the Pike, according to the Globe’s Tim Logan.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation still has to sign off on the development. Weiner wants to start construction in 2018, though. Work on the podium over the Pike would wrap late next year, with a two-year timeline for finishing the tower. Stay tuned.

• Condo tower approved for Boylston Street [Globe]
• Plans for two Back Bay towers over Turnpike move forward [Curbed Boston]
• 5 big post-World War II changes that shaped modern Boston [Curbed Boston]