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A subway train pulling away from a tall, glassy station.
The Orange Line leaving Somerville’s Assembly Row in September 2014.
Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

10 transit-oriented projects in Boston to watch closely

Can the T handle them?

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The Orange Line leaving Somerville’s Assembly Row in September 2014.
| Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Editor’s note: This is an update of a map originally published in September.

Some of Boston’s most significant developments are going up—or are slated to go up—around or on some of the city’s biggest transit hubs, including South Station and North Station.

But can the T handle the influx of residents that these new developments’ thousands—and we do mean thousands—of apartments and condos will bring?

Stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out our map of 10 such transit-oriented projects to watch closely as 2017 fades into 2018.

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Assembly Row

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Developer Federal Realty’s unfolding mega-project on the banks for the Mystic keeps growing and growing.

A 20-story, 447-unit, bocce-court-containing apartment building called Montaje opened in mid-September 2017. And, in May, Federal filed plans for a 500-unit residential complex with 26,500 square feet of restaurant and retail space on Assembly Row’s so-called Block 8.

There are already several hundred apartments and condos (including Montaje) as well as dozens of stores and restaurants.

And! It’s all amid an Orange Line stop that opened in September 2014—the first new subway stop along the T in a quarter-century.

Federal Realty

Hub on Causeway

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This 1.87 million-square-foot project under construction above and around North Station is due to include three towers.

The first phase—which developers Boston Properties and TD Garden owner Delaware North hope to have finished before 2019—will include 175,000 square feet of creative office space; 210,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, including a Star Market and a 15-screen ArcLight Cinema; 64,000 square feet of new space for the sports arena; 10,000 square feet of outdoor space, including a new TD Garden/North Station entrance; and 540 underground parking spaces.

Phase Two is supposed to have a 38-story residential tower with 440 apartments and a 10-story citizenM hotel tower with around 260 rooms.

And Phase Three is supposed to have a 21-story, 525,000-square-foot office tower.

Bulfinch Crossing

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National Real Estate Advisors and HYM Development are overseeing the epic redevelopment of the Government Center Garage right near the Haymarket stop of the Green and Orange lines.

Work officially commenced this past January on the first phase: a 45-story, 486-unit, 480-foot residential tower. The developers announced in July that 118 apartments in this spire would, in fact, be 55 condos—a nod to a growing trend in the Boston housing market wherein rents are kind of plateauing and the city’s condo market remains hot, hot, hot.

Bulfinch Crossing will also include a 43-story, 528-foot, 1 million-square-foot office tower called One Congress.

Boston Landing

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The approximately 14-acre, 1.76 million-square-foot Boston Landing in Brighton is under construction around a five-year-old commuter rail stop built specifically for the mega-project.

The complex when completed will include a 250,000-square-foot HQ for sneaker giant New Balance, the project’s lead developer; a 325,000-square-foot Bruins practice facility, including a rink; a 160,000-square-foot Celtics practice facility; 650,000 square feet of Class A office space; a 140,000-square-foot, 175-key hotel; 295 apartments in a 17-story tower; and that commuter-rail station.

Some of that as already opened, including the New Balance headquarters and the station.

And the latest addition, the Celtics’ digs, topped off in late August. It’s expected to open in mid-2018.

South Station tower

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Houston-based developer Hines is planning a 51-story building atop South Station.

The 862,000-square-foot tower would include 641,000 square feet of office space, 166 condos in 215,000 square feet, 6,000 square feet of retail, and parking for approximately 895 cars.

The project would also involve a 50 percent expansion of South Station’s bus capacity.

Hines has collected key approvals for the mammoth project—it would be one of the tallest towers in New England and would start nine floors above ground—and had said it planned to start construction in 2017.

That looks unlikely, but the plan is still moving ahead.

Back Bay Station towers

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Developer Boston Properties plans to build three towers of 26, 28, and 34 stories as part of an expansion of Back Bay Station—which includes an Orange Line and commuter-rail stop as well as a stop on Amtrak—and the 165 Dartmouth Street.

The shortest tower would be for offices and the others for approximately 600 residences.

The square-footage would total some 1.26 million square feet; and would include new floors above the station's current concourse for retail such as a grocery store.

The Boston Planning and Development Agency in mid-November signed off on the project—but only after Boston Properties reached a deal with opponents concerned about the shadows it would cast.

The developer will pay $3 million to opponents such as the Old South Church to mitigate the shadows’ impact and a further $3 million to an affordable housing fund that Boston runs.

Tremont Crossing

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The Boston Planning and Development Agency signed off in March on this multi-building project totaling 1,928,400 square feet near the Ruggles stop of the Orange Line and commuter rail.

The development, which includes plans for 728 apartments in two buildings, a BJ’s Wholesale Club, and a new Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, will be the biggest in Roxbury perhaps in decades and certainly the biggest since Boston’s modern development boom kicked off post-Great Recession.

Plans for Tremont Crossing stretch back to the middle of the previous decade.

At different points it was supposed to be nearly all offices and offices with a sizable dormitory component.

Developers Elma Lewis Partners and Feldco eventually settled on the current plans.

Washington Village

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The city signed off in August 2016 on the nearly 5-acre project near the Red Line’s Andrew stop.

The DJ Properties development is set to include 656 apartments and condos, including 110 designated as affordable; 99,000 square feet of retail, including (hopefully) a grocery store; 560 parking spaces; and a 1.5-acre plaza and green as well as new streets and walkways.

The nine buildings of Washington Village, one of which is set to rise as high as 22 stories, will replace lower-slung fare such as auto shops and laundries.

South Bay development 

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EDENS, the South Carolina-based shopping-center operator and developer, officially broke ground in August 2016 on the 11-acre development of a site adjacent to its South Bay plaza near the Andrew Square stop.

The project is immense in scope.

It’s due to include five new six-story buildings; 475 apartments; a 130-room hotel; 113,000 square feet of retail, including restaurants; a 12-screen AMC Theatre with Imax and AMC Prime Technology; 1,094 new parking spots; and community space for events such as farmers markets, craft shows, charity drives, and festivals.

Quincy Center Station

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The MBTA board voted in early December to approve a plan to plunk as many as 602 apartments atop and around Quincy Center Station.

The Quincy City Council a couple of weeks later, however, approved the same plan, but with a drastically reduced apartment count—300, max, instead of 602.

The plan from Atlantic Development and Bozzuto Development Co. also involves office and retail space as well as upgrades to the station, including a new bus terminal and the restoration of more than 600 parking spaces.

The project would go up in three phases. The first—the upgrades, the new bus terminal, and the first 300 apartments—would be finished by 2023, and the rest by 2031.

John Phelan/Wikipedia

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Assembly Row

Developer Federal Realty’s unfolding mega-project on the banks for the Mystic keeps growing and growing.

A 20-story, 447-unit, bocce-court-containing apartment building called Montaje opened in mid-September 2017. And, in May, Federal filed plans for a 500-unit residential complex with 26,500 square feet of restaurant and retail space on Assembly Row’s so-called Block 8.

There are already several hundred apartments and condos (including Montaje) as well as dozens of stores and restaurants.

And! It’s all amid an Orange Line stop that opened in September 2014—the first new subway stop along the T in a quarter-century.

Federal Realty

Hub on Causeway

This 1.87 million-square-foot project under construction above and around North Station is due to include three towers.

The first phase—which developers Boston Properties and TD Garden owner Delaware North hope to have finished before 2019—will include 175,000 square feet of creative office space; 210,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, including a Star Market and a 15-screen ArcLight Cinema; 64,000 square feet of new space for the sports arena; 10,000 square feet of outdoor space, including a new TD Garden/North Station entrance; and 540 underground parking spaces.

Phase Two is supposed to have a 38-story residential tower with 440 apartments and a 10-story citizenM hotel tower with around 260 rooms.

And Phase Three is supposed to have a 21-story, 525,000-square-foot office tower.

Bulfinch Crossing

National Real Estate Advisors and HYM Development are overseeing the epic redevelopment of the Government Center Garage right near the Haymarket stop of the Green and Orange lines.

Work officially commenced this past January on the first phase: a 45-story, 486-unit, 480-foot residential tower. The developers announced in July that 118 apartments in this spire would, in fact, be 55 condos—a nod to a growing trend in the Boston housing market wherein rents are kind of plateauing and the city’s condo market remains hot, hot, hot.

Bulfinch Crossing will also include a 43-story, 528-foot, 1 million-square-foot office tower called One Congress.

Boston Landing

The approximately 14-acre, 1.76 million-square-foot Boston Landing in Brighton is under construction around a five-year-old commuter rail stop built specifically for the mega-project.

The complex when completed will include a 250,000-square-foot HQ for sneaker giant New Balance, the project’s lead developer; a 325,000-square-foot Bruins practice facility, including a rink; a 160,000-square-foot Celtics practice facility; 650,000 square feet of Class A office space; a 140,000-square-foot, 175-key hotel; 295 apartments in a 17-story tower; and that commuter-rail station.

Some of that as already opened, including the New Balance headquarters and the station.

And the latest addition, the Celtics’ digs, topped off in late August. It’s expected to open in mid-2018.

South Station tower

Houston-based developer Hines is planning a 51-story building atop South Station.

The 862,000-square-foot tower would include 641,000 square feet of office space, 166 condos in 215,000 square feet, 6,000 square feet of retail, and parking for approximately 895 cars.

The project would also involve a 50 percent expansion of South Station’s bus capacity.

Hines has collected key approvals for the mammoth project—it would be one of the tallest towers in New England and would start nine floors above ground—and had said it planned to start construction in 2017.

That looks unlikely, but the plan is still moving ahead.

Back Bay Station towers

Developer Boston Properties plans to build three towers of 26, 28, and 34 stories as part of an expansion of Back Bay Station—which includes an Orange Line and commuter-rail stop as well as a stop on Amtrak—and the 165 Dartmouth Street.

The shortest tower would be for offices and the others for approximately 600 residences.

The square-footage would total some 1.26 million square feet; and would include new floors above the station's current concourse for retail such as a grocery store.

The Boston Planning and Development Agency in mid-November signed off on the project—but only after Boston Properties reached a deal with opponents concerned about the shadows it would cast.

The developer will pay $3 million to opponents such as the Old South Church to mitigate the shadows’ impact and a further $3 million to an affordable housing fund that Boston runs.

Tremont Crossing

The Boston Planning and Development Agency signed off in March on this multi-building project totaling 1,928,400 square feet near the Ruggles stop of the Orange Line and commuter rail.

The development, which includes plans for 728 apartments in two buildings, a BJ’s Wholesale Club, and a new Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, will be the biggest in Roxbury perhaps in decades and certainly the biggest since Boston’s modern development boom kicked off post-Great Recession.

Plans for Tremont Crossing stretch back to the middle of the previous decade.

At different points it was supposed to be nearly all offices and offices with a sizable dormitory component.

Developers Elma Lewis Partners and Feldco eventually settled on the current plans.

Washington Village

The city signed off in August 2016 on the nearly 5-acre project near the Red Line’s Andrew stop.

The DJ Properties development is set to include 656 apartments and condos, including 110 designated as affordable; 99,000 square feet of retail, including (hopefully) a grocery store; 560 parking spaces; and a 1.5-acre plaza and green as well as new streets and walkways.

The nine buildings of Washington Village, one of which is set to rise as high as 22 stories, will replace lower-slung fare such as auto shops and laundries.

South Bay development 

EDENS, the South Carolina-based shopping-center operator and developer, officially broke ground in August 2016 on the 11-acre development of a site adjacent to its South Bay plaza near the Andrew Square stop.

The project is immense in scope.

It’s due to include five new six-story buildings; 475 apartments; a 130-room hotel; 113,000 square feet of retail, including restaurants; a 12-screen AMC Theatre with Imax and AMC Prime Technology; 1,094 new parking spots; and community space for events such as farmers markets, craft shows, charity drives, and festivals.

Quincy Center Station

The MBTA board voted in early December to approve a plan to plunk as many as 602 apartments atop and around Quincy Center Station.

The Quincy City Council a couple of weeks later, however, approved the same plan, but with a drastically reduced apartment count—300, max, instead of 602.

The plan from Atlantic Development and Bozzuto Development Co. also involves office and retail space as well as upgrades to the station, including a new bus terminal and the restoration of more than 600 parking spaces.

The project would go up in three phases. The first—the upgrades, the new bus terminal, and the first 300 apartments—would be finished by 2023, and the rest by 2031.

John Phelan/Wikipedia