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The 8 most significant Boston developments under construction right now

From Allston to the Seaport

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This map plots the eight most significant major projects under construction in Boston as of the end of August.

The octet includes what will be New England’s tallest primarily residential tower; a vast complex that will contain practice facilities for the Bruins and the Celtics; and Harvard University’s single, biggest footprint outside of Cambridge.

These map does not include projects that are proposed or planned (or really, really close to starting construction such as Fenway Center). It’s just ones with shovels in the ground already.

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1. Boston Landing

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The approximately 14-acre, 1.76 million-square-foot Boston Landing in Brighton continues to unfold—the latest addition is the Celtics’ practice facility, which will officially top off at August 23.

The complex when completed will include a 250,000-square-foot HQ for sneaker giant New Balance; a 325,000-square-foot Bruins practice facility, including rink; 650,000 square feet of Class A office space; a 140,000-square-foot, 175-key hotel; and a commuter-rail station.

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

As for the Celtics’ facility—dubbed the Auerbach Center after the late, great coach and team president—that is expected to run to 160,000 square feet and open in mid-2018. It’s rendered here.

2. Harvard’s Allston expansion

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156 Western Ave
Allston, MA 02134

Construction has been underway for Harvard’s much-ballyhooed Allston expansion since at least June.

That expansion is due to pivot around an almost 500,000-square-foot headquarters for the Cambridge-based university’s engineering and applied sciences school.

Work is expected to wrap by the start of the fall semester in 2020. The project was originally supposed to be well underway toward the end of the previous decade, but the Great Recession got in the way.

3. Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street

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1 Dalton St
Boston, MA 02199

The under-development Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street, destined to be New England’s tallest primarily residential building, will be visible on Boston’s skyline this fall, according to a representative of developer Carpenter & Co.

Construction of the 61-story Back Bay tower—which will be 742 feet at its highest point and 699 feet at its highest habitable spot—was proceeding at the pace of about one and a half floors a week in late July.

One Dalton will include 160 ultra-luxury condos on floors 26 through 61 and 215 Four Seasons hotel rooms.

Construction is supposed to wrap in the last quarter of 2018, though condo sales have already started.

4. The Beverly

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101 Beverly St
Boston, MA 02114

Developer Related Beal is wrapping construction and accepting applications for what it has called “the largest new construction of affordable and workforce housing in downtown Boston in more than a quarter-century”—namely, the 14-story, 239-unit Beverly near North Station.

Just how affordable? The so-called workforce units are available to households earning an annual income of between $64,500 and $198,000. Rents in those units start at $1,940 a month.

The Beverly’s affordable-housing units are available to households with annual incomes of $17,578 to $60,000, according to the developer. Rents on those units start at $492 a month.

Applications are due by September 6 to qualify for a January 2018 move-in.

We’d like to say that this is the start of an affordability trend for downtown Boston, but it’s very likely not.

The Beverly was born of an alchemy of state and city subsidies—Related Beal bought a 99-year ground lease on the site from the state—and the developer’s own deep financing reserves. Plus, the site only exists because the Big Dig sank I-93.

Still, the mix of below-market studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and even two dozen three-bedrooms will be a welcome addition to housing-starved Boston.

5. Bulfinch Crossing

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50 Sudbury St
Boston, MA 02114

The developer behind the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage made headlines in late July when it announced it was switching 118 apartments in the project’s 45-story, 486-unit rental tower into 55 condos instead.

The first building going up is that 45-story tower.

The redevelopment—a.k.a. Bulfinch Crossing—is due to have 812 residential units total as well as 196 hotel rooms, 1.15 million square feet of office space, and 85,000 square feet of retail

Developer HYM Investment Group expects to wrap the current construction by 2020.

6. General Electric headquarters

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5 Necco St
Boston, MA 02210

Yes, GE has pushed back the opening of its new 12-story building in Fort Point to mid-2021 from 2019. But the company is currently working on revamping two decades-old buildings that used to house the Necco candy concern.

Those buildings are expected to be ready for GE employees by mid-2019—meaning that, yes, whatever the delays, GE is relocating to Fort Point. (Though work on all three buildings had at one point been expected to wrap before 2019.)

When all is said and done, GE’s HQ is supposed to run to nearly 400,000 square feet of interior space and include what the company has dubbed “maker space” for employees, tech startups, students (both university and high school), and locals; a community work lounge; space for conclaves and presentations, never mind ample laboratories; and an employee cafeteria.

7. 399 Congress Street/‘Sausage Parcel’

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399 Congress St
Boston, MA 02210

Construction started in July on the 22-story, 414-unit 399 Congress Street apartment complex, capping a years-long saga for a site that has been dubbed the “sausage parcel” for its narrow shape.

A previous developer had planned a hotel there, but the Great Recession—and that unusual shape—croaked the proposal. An subsequent idea for apartments at the site also fell through.

It was not until 2013 that the city did sign off on a plan for 414 apartments, including 60 innovation units and plenty of collaboration-causing common space. Sixty-three of the units will be designated as affordable, including 13 of the innovation units.

It was this proposal as well as the sausage parcel itself that Miami-based developer Crescent Heights bought in 2016 for $36 million.

The approximately $200 million project will also include 144 parking spaces in a new three-level garage below the complex and 12,000 square feet of retail and lobby space.

8. Echelon Seaport

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145 Seaport Blvd
Boston, MA 02210

Developer Cottonwood Management officially broke ground on June 13 on a 1.33 million-square-foot Seaport District development that it is calling Echelon Seaport.

The three-building project is set to have 733 apartments and condos. Some 448 of those will be condos spread over two towers. According to the Globe, that block will constitute the largest single amount of for-sale housing in the neighborhood.

A third tower will have 285 apartments. The buildings could stretch as high as 21 floors.

Echelon Seaport will include a 19,000-square-foot landscaped plaza accessible to the public and 125,000 square feet of restaurants and retail over two levels. There will also be several hundred parking spaces as well. All totaled, it will unfold over 3.5 acres of very, very valuable land at B Street and Seaport Boulevard.

Los Angeles-based Cottonwood hopes to wrap construction in 2020, and to open a sales office for the condos before the end of 2017.

KPF

1. Boston Landing

Boston, MA 02135

The approximately 14-acre, 1.76 million-square-foot Boston Landing in Brighton continues to unfold—the latest addition is the Celtics’ practice facility, which will officially top off at August 23.

The complex when completed will include a 250,000-square-foot HQ for sneaker giant New Balance; a 325,000-square-foot Bruins practice facility, including rink; 650,000 square feet of Class A office space; a 140,000-square-foot, 175-key hotel; and a commuter-rail station.

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

As for the Celtics’ facility—dubbed the Auerbach Center after the late, great coach and team president—that is expected to run to 160,000 square feet and open in mid-2018. It’s rendered here.

2. Harvard’s Allston expansion

156 Western Ave, Allston, MA 02134

Construction has been underway for Harvard’s much-ballyhooed Allston expansion since at least June.

That expansion is due to pivot around an almost 500,000-square-foot headquarters for the Cambridge-based university’s engineering and applied sciences school.

Work is expected to wrap by the start of the fall semester in 2020. The project was originally supposed to be well underway toward the end of the previous decade, but the Great Recession got in the way.

156 Western Ave
Allston, MA 02134

3. Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street

1 Dalton St, Boston, MA 02199

The under-development Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street, destined to be New England’s tallest primarily residential building, will be visible on Boston’s skyline this fall, according to a representative of developer Carpenter & Co.

Construction of the 61-story Back Bay tower—which will be 742 feet at its highest point and 699 feet at its highest habitable spot—was proceeding at the pace of about one and a half floors a week in late July.

One Dalton will include 160 ultra-luxury condos on floors 26 through 61 and 215 Four Seasons hotel rooms.

Construction is supposed to wrap in the last quarter of 2018, though condo sales have already started.

1 Dalton St
Boston, MA 02199

4. The Beverly

101 Beverly St, Boston, MA 02114

Developer Related Beal is wrapping construction and accepting applications for what it has called “the largest new construction of affordable and workforce housing in downtown Boston in more than a quarter-century”—namely, the 14-story, 239-unit Beverly near North Station.

Just how affordable? The so-called workforce units are available to households earning an annual income of between $64,500 and $198,000. Rents in those units start at $1,940 a month.

The Beverly’s affordable-housing units are available to households with annual incomes of $17,578 to $60,000, according to the developer. Rents on those units start at $492 a month.

Applications are due by September 6 to qualify for a January 2018 move-in.

We’d like to say that this is the start of an affordability trend for downtown Boston, but it’s very likely not.

The Beverly was born of an alchemy of state and city subsidies—Related Beal bought a 99-year ground lease on the site from the state—and the developer’s own deep financing reserves. Plus, the site only exists because the Big Dig sank I-93.

Still, the mix of below-market studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and even two dozen three-bedrooms will be a welcome addition to housing-starved Boston.

101 Beverly St
Boston, MA 02114

5. Bulfinch Crossing

50 Sudbury St, Boston, MA 02114

The developer behind the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage made headlines in late July when it announced it was switching 118 apartments in the project’s 45-story, 486-unit rental tower into 55 condos instead.

The first building going up is that 45-story tower.

The redevelopment—a.k.a. Bulfinch Crossing—is due to have 812 residential units total as well as 196 hotel rooms, 1.15 million square feet of office space, and 85,000 square feet of retail

Developer HYM Investment Group expects to wrap the current construction by 2020.

50 Sudbury St
Boston, MA 02114

6. General Electric headquarters

5 Necco St, Boston, MA 02210

Yes, GE has pushed back the opening of its new 12-story building in Fort Point to mid-2021 from 2019. But the company is currently working on revamping two decades-old buildings that used to house the Necco candy concern.

Those buildings are expected to be ready for GE employees by mid-2019—meaning that, yes, whatever the delays, GE is relocating to Fort Point. (Though work on all three buildings had at one point been expected to wrap before 2019.)

When all is said and done, GE’s HQ is supposed to run to nearly 400,000 square feet of interior space and include what the company has dubbed “maker space” for employees, tech startups, students (both university and high school), and locals; a community work lounge; space for conclaves and presentations, never mind ample laboratories; and an employee cafeteria.

5 Necco St
Boston, MA 02210

7. 399 Congress Street/‘Sausage Parcel’

399 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210

Construction started in July on the 22-story, 414-unit 399 Congress Street apartment complex, capping a years-long saga for a site that has been dubbed the “sausage parcel” for its narrow shape.

A previous developer had planned a hotel there, but the Great Recession—and that unusual shape—croaked the proposal. An subsequent idea for apartments at the site also fell through.

It was not until 2013 that the city did sign off on a plan for 414 apartments, including 60 innovation units and plenty of collaboration-causing common space. Sixty-three of the units will be designated as affordable, including 13 of the innovation units.

It was this proposal as well as the sausage parcel itself that Miami-based developer Crescent Heights bought in 2016 for $36 million.

The approximately $200 million project will also include 144 parking spaces in a new three-level garage below the complex and 12,000 square feet of retail and lobby space.

399 Congress St
Boston, MA 02210

8. Echelon Seaport

145 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA 02210
KPF

Developer Cottonwood Management officially broke ground on June 13 on a 1.33 million-square-foot Seaport District development that it is calling Echelon Seaport.

The three-building project is set to have 733 apartments and condos. Some 448 of those will be condos spread over two towers. According to the Globe, that block will constitute the largest single amount of for-sale housing in the neighborhood.

A third tower will have 285 apartments. The buildings could stretch as high as 21 floors.

Echelon Seaport will include a 19,000-square-foot landscaped plaza accessible to the public and 125,000 square feet of restaurants and retail over two levels. There will also be several hundred parking spaces as well. All totaled, it will unfold over 3.5 acres of very, very valuable land at B Street and Seaport Boulevard.

Los Angeles-based Cottonwood hopes to wrap construction in 2020, and to open a sales office for the condos before the end of 2017.

145 Seaport Blvd
Boston, MA 02210