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Image courtesy of Sasaki Arrowstreet S9 Architecture Payette Perkins & Will James Corner Field Operations Arup
The first new building at the L Street Station development in South Boston is designed with a nod to the marine cargo industry that maintains a presence at Massport’s nearby Conley Container Terminal.
The 7-story, 265,000-square-foot office and R&D building, designed by Boston-based architects Payette, will include a tiered facade that evokes the shipping containers that deliver cargo into the Port of Boston, developers said in a filing describing the project’s first phase.
In a filing with the Boston Planning and Development Agency, Hilco Redevelopment Partners and Redgate Capital Partners laid out their vision for just over half of the 15-acre property. Master-plan renderings show the historic brick turbine hall flanked by glassy new life science and office buildings overlooking the Reserved Channel.
The initial phase will include 754,500 square feet of commercial space including offices, R&D, retail shops and cultural space.
Developers said construction will begin in 2023 while demolition continues on the property. The first phase includes a 374,000-square-foot office-and-R&D building on the eastern side of the property and a 265,000-square-foot office-and-R&D building near Summer Street.
The former turbine halls will be converted into an office, R&D, retail and cultural space including specialty food and beverage vendors. The turbine building will open onto a waterfront promenade, part of nearly 3.8 acres of open space in the initial phase.
The 1.7-million-square-foot project, approved by BPDA directors in January 2021, includes 636 residential units, less than half the number originally proposed by developers and met with neighborhood opposition.
The housing component will include 16 percent income-restricted units, including affordable and middle-income units, to be built in future phases.
Demolition of other former buildings, including switch house and transformer buildings, began in December and was halted temporarily in May after a partial building collapse injured three construction workers.
