Equinox fitness club, Kings bowling and a 10-screen Showcase ICON theater will anchor 250,000 square feet of retail space at One Seaport Square in South Boston.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday morning for the 1.5 million-square-foot complex, consisting of 22- and 20-story towers on a 2.7-acre parcel on Seaport Boulevard. The retail space will occupy the first through third floors of the buildings, with 832 apartments on the upper floors.
Financed by AIG, the $600 million complex is part of the 6.3-million-square-foot Seaport Square development.
John Hynes III, CEO of Boston Global Investors, compared Seaport Square to the Prudential Center and Copley Place developments in its potential create a new neighborhood.
"We envisioned this particular project to become the gateway and catalyst to the entire district, and will transform this area into an exceptional symbol of the new Boston," Hynes said.
Berkshire Group, a Boston-based developer, will own the apartments and W/S Development of Newton will own the retail space under a condominium structure.
Approximately 50 percent of the retail space is leased, said Richard Marks, an executive vice president for W/S Development. The buildings are expected to be completed in summer 2017.
The 10-screen, 860-seat ICON Theater is Chicago-based Kerasotes Theatres’ premium brand, with reserved seating and a Lobby Lounge restaurant and bar.
The rest of the retail space will have an emphasis on restaurants and fashion, but will not contain a supermarket, Marks said.
"The grocery store will come a bit later. We know it’s important to the district," he said.
Kings, founded by nightclub owner Patrick Lyons, has Massachusetts locations in Boston, Dedham and Lynnfield with a 2015 opening planned at Nordblom Co.’s 3rd Ave development in Burlington.
Seaport Square master developer Boston Global Investors and Morgan Stanley acquired the 23-acre parcels, most covered with surface parking, from News Corp. in 2006. The full buildout would contain enough space to fill more than five Prudential Towers.
The next phase will be a 450,000-square-foot office building on the parcel directly east of One Seaport Square. The site is currently occupied by Our Lady of Good Voyage chapel, which will be relocated to 51 Seaport Boulevard.
Hynes said the office building could be built on speculation beginning in 2016.
"Some investors have enough confidence on what’s going on here to go without a tenant," he said. "Down in this area, particularly when you think about what will be here by the time (One Seaport Square) opens up with all of the retail and homes, it’s a very special area."
