While lawsuits seek to block the project, The Chiofaro Cos. has formally kicked off permitting to replace its parking garage on Boston’s waterfront with an office and condo tower.

The 600-foot-tall skyscraper designed by architects Kohn Pederson Fox would include 900,000 square feet of office, residential and retail space on East India Row, along with open space connecting to the neighboring New England Aquarium property.

The Chiofaro Cos.’ Rob Caridad told Banker & Tradesman today the Boston Harborwalk and entire Harbor Garage arage property – 50 percent of which will be open space after the garage is removed – will be elevated 4 feet to reflect rising sea level projections by 2070. The city’s Climate Ready Downtown/North End study identifies the low-lying land near the Aquarium and Faneuil Hall Marketplace as subject to significant flood risk as Boston Harbor levels rise in coming decades. Coastal storms in January and March 2018 flooded the entrance to the MBTA’s Aquarium station, forcing Blue Line trains to bypass the station.

In October, a Suffolk Superior Court judge allowed lawsuits by Conservation Law Foundation and residents of the neighboring Harbor Towers condo to proceed. The lawsuits challenge a new zoning framework for 42 acres of central waterfront real estate including the East India Row garage property.

CLF and abutters say the new zoning allowing buildings up to 600 feet violates state law limiting the height and density of waterfront buildings.

The Boston Planning and Redevelopment Authority has updated the zoning code to allow the higher density, enabling Chiofaro Cos. to begin the formal permitting process, however.

The specific mix of uses has yet to be determined, but could include condos, apartments and a hotel component, Caridad said. A formal projection notification form is expected to be filed in early 2020.

Attempts to redevelop the 8-story garage property stem back nearly a decade and attracted opposition by the late Mayor Thomas Menino. Mayor Marty Walsh has indicated support for the redevelopment, and the BPDA kicked off a study of the central waterfront area in 2013 that allows higher density development in exchange for contributions to public amenities.

As part of the municipal harbor plan zoning agreement, Chiofaro Cos. agreed to contribute $10 million toward the Aquarium’s “Blue Way” promenade connecting the Greenway to Central Wharf, $30 million to compensate the Aquarium from potential lost business during construction, and $300,000 toward planning of a public park on Long Wharf.

Responding to today’s filing, CLF Senior Counsel Peter Shelley issued the following statement: “Our legal challenge of the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan is moving forward after a recent favorable court decision. Any developer that advances a project based on the variances in this current plan does so at their own financial risk. Developers cannot be allowed to buy their way of rules protecting public access to and enjoyment of the waterfront.”