Gillette Co. is seeking more flexibility to develop sections of its 34-acre campus in South Boston as it contemplates a potential sale or redevelopment. Photo courtesy of Gillette Co.

As it studies future options for its 34-acre World Shaving Headquarters property in South Boston, Gillette Co. is seeking to remove some state oversight over what could be built next on portions of the prime waterfront real estate. 

The changes could substantially increase the market value of the property if Gillette Co. sells off pieces to a developer, in a neighborhood where a nearby 1-acre site sold for $252 million last year. But they’re drawing objections from key stakeholders including the Boston Planning & Development Agency, Conservation Law Foundation and Boston Harbor Now. 

At issue is the amount of privately-owned tidelands on the property, which determines whether the razor manufacturer and future owners would be subject to state limits on waterfront building heights and sizes, said Deanna Moran, CLF’s director of environmental planning. And they would not be required to provide public access, as is required at many landmark properties on Boston Harbor. 

“If it’s taken out, they can do anything they want as long as it conforms to Boston zoning,” Moran said.  

Chapter 91 limits the size of waterfront developments and requires portions of their ground-floor spaces be open to the general public, prompting a series of recent clashes in the Seaport District. A since-settled 2017 lawsuit by CLF on Chapter 91 issues delayed groundbreaking of the St. Regis Residences, a 22-story luxury condo tower now under construction on Seaport Boulevard, and prompted developer Cronin Group to agree to an $18.5 million settlement. 

Gillette announced in November that it’s studying the future of its South Boston campus, which contains 20 office and manufacturing buildings and surface parking. While the Procter & Gamble subsidiary said it will retain modernized office and manufacturing at the property, it began shrinking its real estate footprint in 2019 by selling over 6 acres of parking lots to Boston-based Related Beal, which is proposing a 1.1 million-square-foot development. 

Roads to Nowhere 

At issue on the Gillette property is the legal status of a cluster of parcels spanning nearly 8 acres on the northwestern portion, which Gillette is seeking to have removed from Chapter 91 jurisdiction. 

In an application to the state Department of Environmental Protection, Gillette consultant Fort Point Associates cited Boston Department of Public Works records of former public ways that ran through the property. Since the parcels are more than 250 feet from the Channel and separated from it by public ways, they should be considered landlocked tidelands and removed from Chapter 91 jurisdiction, the application states. 

In a public comment letter submitted Aug. 3, Moran and CLF Senior Counsel Peter Shelley disagreed. The parcels are subject to a long-term maintenance agreement with Gillette, and should remain subject to public access and benefits requirements, CLF stated. 

“The Legislature has been very clear that even when tidelands are determined to be landlocked, the public trust rights in those lands are not extinguished,” the letter states. 

The BPDA also takes issue with Gillette’s rationale for removing the parcels from Chapter 91. 

“We are not aware of circumstances where a public way previously existed but was discontinued and now provides a private property owner with landlocked tidelands status,” BPDA Deputy Director of Waterfront Planning Richard McGuinness wrote in an Aug. 3 letter to DEP. 

And Boston Harbor Now argues that the parcels should be subject to existing conditions regardless of the tidelands question. 

“No loss of open space or public access should result from this new license application,” Policy Director Aaron Toffler wrote in an Aug. 3 comment letter. 

Steve Adams

Gillette spokeswoman Kara Buckley said the company hasn’t made any decisions on the future of the property, and its real estate assessment has been slowed by its response to operational challenges and health and safety measures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Gillette’s property is one of three on the eastern side of the Channel that could see major developments rise in the next few years, including two others subject to Chapter 91 regulations. 

National Development and life science specialist Alexandria Real Estate Equities are seeking approval for a 316,000-square-foot office-lab building at 15 Necco St., where General Electric abandoned plans for a new headquarters tower in 2019. 

And Related Beal submitted a proposal in late July for a 1.1 million-square-foot office, life science and residential project at 244-284 A St., including three towers built on a 6.5-acre site it bought from Gillette Co. for $218 million in May 2019.