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A Newton developer is back with a new proposal for a 40-story skyscraper near North Station after scrapping plans for an office-focused project.

RMR Group said it’s seeking to build a 600,000-square-foot tower at the corner of Causeway and North Washington streets. The REIT owns the 0.6-acre site including a pair of smaller office buildings and a six-unit apartment building plus a vacant, 143,000-square-foot office building formerly occupied by state agencies.

The office properties, RMR told city officials in a filing “are almost totally vacant, and efforts to re-tenant them have not been successful.”

In its place, RMR Group is proposing a 300-room hotel and 420 housing units along with 30,000 square feet of retail space steps from the transit hub and home of the Celtics and Bruins.

In a statement, an RMR executive said the firm expects a “robust public conversation” about the proposal.

“We look forward to engaging with many different stakeholders in several neighborhoods to arrive at a shared vision for this key gateway location,” RMR Vice President of Development Jesse Abair said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

RMR Group has been lobbying for rezoning of the Bulfinch Triangle – where building heights are typically limited to 12 stories – to revitalize the northern edge of Boston’s central business district.

The Newton-based developer floated plans for a 700-foot-tall office tower on the site in 2022, despite the downturn in leasing following the pandemic. Last year, it hired urban planner Jeff Speck to study land use strategies for the cluster of blocks between the TD Garden and Government Center, which primarily contain class B office buildings that have fallen out of favor among tenants.

In a notification letter to the Boston Planning Department, RMR Group said the project would include three levels of underground parking. A formal proposal will be submitted in September.

Developer Proposes 40-Story Tower Near North Station

by Steve Adams time to read: 1 min
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