The 650-unit Smith breaks ground in the South End

The developers behind one of the largest new projects in Boston—a 650-unit apartment complex at Dedham and Albany streets in the busy, busy South End—officially broke ground on it on September 18.

Formerly known as the Harrison/Albany project and now dubbed The Smith as a nod to the area’s history with artisans, the development from Leggat McCall and Bentall Kennedy is also expected to have around 76,800 square feet of new and renovated office space.

There is supposed to be 19,700 square feet of retail and cultural space, too, on the ground floors of the two-building project. And 36 percent of the eventual development will be open space, with publicly accessible open space representing about 20 percent of the site, according to the developers.

They acquired the parcel from Boston Medical Center in 2014. The new project—which CBT Architects is designing to complement the area’s existing buildings—joins a plethora of development sweeping that corner of the South End.

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