Image courtesy of Payette, Mikyoung Kim Design and VHB
Boston’s Seaport District remains a prime location for life science development despite challenging design constraints on some of the remaining sites.
The latest example is Breakthrough Properties’ proposal for a 335,000-square-foot office-lab building on a 2.4-acre site between Fort Point Channel and A Street.
Developers plan to cantilever the far west side of the building, including its lobby, because a portion of the Interstate 90 tunnel runs beneath the 232 A St. site and limits the location of building foundations.
“[T]he tunnel structure plays an important role in defining the approach to the project site and the building design,” developers wrote in a submission to the Boston Planning & Development Agency and state environmental regulators.
Construction over the tunnel will require a highway access permit from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Breakthrough Properties said.
Related Beal, the developer of the 1.1 million-square-foot Channelside project approved for an adjacent site at 244-284 A St., designed buildings to avoid conflicts with the tunnel which underwent a seven-month emergency repair project to address leaks in 2020.
Breakthrough Properties notified the BPDA in February that it would seek approval for a 455,000-square-foot building, but scaled back the size and height in response to comments from the community and BPDA staff, according to the notification form.
The final proposal retains 1.5 acres of public open space to provide a “signature amenity” next to Fort Point Channel as envisioned in the city’s 100 Acres Master Plan approved for the neighborhood in 2007, and represents 31 percent less square-footage than the maximum allowed in the planned development area.
Final designs will be based upon community feedback, but include biodiverse plantings and a mix of passive and active recreation spots. The site will be elevated to tie into a planned 2,000-foot-long flood berm to be constructed by the city of Boston between Necco Street and Dorchester Avenue.
Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, bought the surface parking parcels from Gillette Co. parent Procter & Gamble in 2021 for $80 million.
