Massachusetts-based grocery store chain Roche Bros. will open its first downtown Boston location in late 2014, Mayor Thomas Menino announced Tuesday at the groundbreaking of the Millennium Tower skyscraper at the former Filene’s site.

Menino and Roche Bros. co-owner Ed Roche were both on hand for the groundbreaking of the $630 million Millennium project, in which the newest Roche Bros. store will be located.

"Roche Bros. is a Boston business with deep roots in our city. It is fitting that the Roche family would be the ones to bring fresh food and the first large grocery story into Downtown Boston," said Menino. "I am proud to have Roche Bros. as a participant in the rebirth of this iconic site." 

"I can’t tell you how excited Rick and I are to be able to come into Boston at this particular location," said Roche.

Roche Bros. joins advertising firm Arnold Worldwide as the first tenants of the new tower, and will move in by September 2014. Neither Roche Brothers nor Millennium Partners has confirmed if the grocery store will be located in the Burnham building or the new tower.

The Millennium Tower, which Menino called "a project of triumph and rebirth" for the troubled Downtown Crossing location, will renovate the existing Burnham building (the former home of Filene’s Department store) and construct an adjoining modern tower.

"This will have a real ripple effect in Downtown Crossing," Menino told reporters.

Once home to Filene’s department store, which closed in December 2011, the site "will be the crossing point of the past and the future," said Anthony Pangaro of Millennium Partners, the project’s development firm.

The 625-foot tower, designed by Handel Architects, will become the tallest residential buildings in Boston with a mixture of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, office space and retail space, according to the architects.

In addition to the 95,000 square feet of additional retail space on its lower floors, there will be 450 luxury residences, according to a Millennium Partners press release.

A portion of the residential apartments in the new tower will fall under inclusionary zoning, said Menino. He did not specify what percentage of the apartments will be rented at a lower cost to provide affordable housing.

At 60 stories tall, Millennium Towers will rival the Prudential Center and the John Hancock Tower. "The upper floors of the tower will have views that will be unparalleled and probably never replicated in Downtown Boston," said Christopher Jeffries, founding partner of Millennium Partners

The empty façade of the Filene’s flagship store marked the last remaining obstacle in revitalizing the Downtown Crossing area, said Jeffries. 

"Ten years from now, no one will remember this as the ‘Combat Zone,’" said Jeffries.

The groundbreaking came on the heels of news that the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a $7.8 million tax break to be spread out over 13 years, according to The Boston Globe. The development is projected to generate $60 million in property taxes for the city.

"[The tax break] is for retailers, so there will be stability of their rent over several years. That’s why you need it, to attract quality potential businesses," Menino told reporters.

Millennium Partners took over the reins of the project after being approached by Menino, said Jeffries.

The project was originally helmed by Vornado Realty Trust of New York. However, Menino released a letter in March 2010 in reaction to statements made by Vornado Chairman Steven Roth, which Menino called a "cynical ploy" to "inflict pain on people, businesses, and communities." The mayor also asked the Boston Redevelopment Authority to re-evaluate its project approvals.

Construction on the Burnham building is now under way, with the earliest occupancy slated for September 2014.