Myriad changes are afoot in Cambridge’s Harvard Square.

These include a major revamp of its central plaza, including the kiosk that contains the Out of Town News newsstand; the redevelopment of the long-shuttered Harvard Square Theatre; and major renovations to Harvard’s student union and the area outside of it.

There’s also the planned redevelopment of 5 John F. Kennedy and 18 Brattle streets. But don’t fret: The world’s only Curious George store seems safe for the moment.

Construction started earlier in fall 2017 on Mass + Main, a project that will add three buildings and 306 apartments to Cambridge’s Central Square.

One of those buildings will run to 19 stories and 195 feet, placing it among the tallest in Cambridge (though a proposal down the road in Kendall Square might render that height quaint in a bit).

The construction caps years of planning by developer Twining Properties. The project also overcame objections from some locals, including members of a neighboring Elks Lodge, concerned about the project’s scope.

Over the next 10 years or so, M.I.T.’s so-called Kendall Square Initiative is slated to spawn six new buildings and 740 apartments over two of those buildings, or 500 net new housing units, including affordable housing and graduate-student residences.

It is also expected to create 100,000 square feet of new and re-positioned ground-floor retail; nearly 1 million square feet of office and research space; 3 acres of plazas and parkland; and to retain some 800,000 square feet of existing capacity for future academic use.

M.I.T. is also driving big plans (rendered) for the Volpe transportation hub that the university bought from the federal government in early 2017 for $750 million.

Current plans, per the university, include approximately 1.7 million square feet of commercial space, including retail; around 1,400 housing units, representing 40 percent of the development and including 280 permanently subsidized affordable units and 20 middle-income units; a minimum of 5 percent innovation space for entrepreneurship and incubator activity; and approximately 2.5 acres of open space on the M.I.T.-owned land, which is a minimum of 25 percent of the site.

At least one of the new Volpe properties could run as high as 500 feet, which would mean the site would host Cambridge’s tallest building.

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.

Hingham-based Atlantic Development and Bozzuto Development Co. out of Maryland received approval from the Quincy planning board in June 2017 for a major project at the North Quincy stop on a 7-acre, state-owned parking lot (the developers would lease the lot for 99 years).

The project is due to include 610 apartments, 50,000 square feet of commercial space, and 1,600 parking spots. Construction could take up to four years.

The board of the MBTA could approve as soon as early December 2017 a plan to build 602 apartments, plus office and retail space, atop and around Quincy Center Station.

The plan from Hingham-based Atlantic Development and Bozzuto Development Co. out of Maryland also involves upgrading the station with a new bus terminal and the restoration of more than 600 parking spots lost when the station’s garage was closed for repairs in 2012..

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.

http://www.bldup.com/projects/north-quincy-holiday-inn-express-and-staybridge-suites-hotel