The oft-delayed mega-project, with its five buildings and several hundred apartments plus commercial space, may, in fact, finally get under way this year. Developer John Rosenthal is pursuing a partnership that could jumpstart things.

This continues to be one of the most interesting development debates/fights in the region: the attempt to turn the old courthouse and jail into at least 24 apartments (not all of them market rate) and commercial/retail. Fresh lawsuits have been filed in November by residents fearful of its height and density; but things were this close to getting started last year.

The 4-acre complex broke ground in early December and is due to bring up to 259 apartments to the Eastie waterfront along with a ton of extras, including a water taxi dock. It's a big get for the waterfront and a harbinger perhaps of development to come.

The 1.1 million-square-foot project broke ground in mid-November and will include two 22-story towers, called the Benjamin and VIA, with 832 apartments total. It is the opening residential salvo of the larger Seaport Square project.

The oft-stalled redevelopment once known as New Quincy Center and Merchant Row (and once called "the largest and most aggressive urban redevelopment project currently underway in the United States") should restart this year. Gate Residential, the folks who brought you Maxwell's Green in Somerville, plan to soon start building the first phase, called West of Chestnut, with 169 apartments and other features. Might Quincy finally join the rest of the region?

Current plans for the long-delayed redevelopment call for two towers of up to about 650 and 550 feet, with hundreds of condos and hotel rooms, 700,000 square feet of office space and amenities such as an all-seasons plaza for the public. The plans, however, face stern opposition from area residents concerned about -- you guessed it -- the height and density of the idea.

A Malden project on a map like this? You bet. The 84-unit apartment complex, which started leasing in April, promises tenants a tech- and transit-oriented lifestyle complete with proximity to the Orange Line and a "computer nook" in every apartment. If this development does, indeed, succeed in exporting Boston and Cambridge's techie, hipster (and hipster techie) vibe to Malden, we've got the makings of a region-wide trend.

Somerville's mega-mixed-use project is already slated to include more than 2,000 housing units and dozens of retail spots (it already has some of those, plus a new Orange Line stop). Plans, however, emerged toward the tail end of 2014 to basically double the size of Assembly Row and basically add more of everything. This is Somerville's era.