Boston — National Real Estate Advisors and the HYM Investment Group have received final approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to build two towers comprising the first phase of a $1.5 billion redevelopment project on Boston’s Congress Street.
The project will eventually include housing, offices, a hotel, retail and other public amenities.
The new development will be built on the site of the 1960s-era Government Center Garage. The garage will be demolished once construction commences on the new towers. About 1,100 parking spaces of the existing 2,300-car garage will be retained for the new buildings.
The residential component of the project will include a 486-unit apartment building that will be the tallest rental housing property in the city, according to the developers. Construction will begin on the 480-foot building during the spring of 2016. It will be situated along New Sudbury Street.
The project will also include a 1 million-square-foot office tower. Pelli Clarke Pelli architects will design the 43-story tower. Construction will begin once a major tenant has committed. Transwestern|RBJ is representing the developers in the lease-up.
HYM and National are also planning three smaller-scale buildings surrounding a new public plaza on the eastern side of the parcel, which will abut the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Once fully completed, the new project will include 812 residential units, 196 hotel rooms, 1.1 million square feet of office space and 85,000 square feet of new retail. The project will also feature a one-acre green roof deck, as well as the largest area for bicycle storage in Boston.
“This project will reconnect four of Boston’s greatest neighborhoods – the North End, the West End, Beacon Hill and Downtown — which have been divided by this hulking concrete structure for decades,” says Thomas O’Brien, HYM’s founding partner and managing director. “This area of Boston is undergoing a tremendous positive transformation, including transit improvements, the Greenway and the new Boston Public Market.”
The redevelopment will be situated two blocks from North Station and Storrow Drive. It is also next to Interstate 93 and integrated with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Haymarket Station, which includes the Green Line and Orange Line of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system.
National Real Estate Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based commercial and multifamily real estate investment firm that focuses on major U.S. urban markets.
Boston-based HYM Investment Group acquires, develops and manages urban mixed-use projects. The firm is currently developing more than 9 million square feet of mixed-use projects in metro Boston.
— Nellie Day