Recently mayor Thomas Menino, and BRA director Peter Meade celebrated the groundbreaking on new housing in the Innovation District. 100 Pier 4 is a $195 million project that will add 369 residential units to the growing district and brings the total number of housing units under development on the South Boston Waterfront to 1,101. Citywide there are 4,890 housing units under construction, and nearly one quarter of them are located in the Innovation District.
100 Pier 4, located at the intersection of Seaport Blvd. and Northern Ave., will be a 21-story building and will include a mix of studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and three-bedrooms, including 50 innovation style units, and 32 affordable units. The project also includes 10,800 s/f of ground floor retail located at the intersection of Seaport Blvd. and Northern Ave., and 258 underground parking spaces. The Hanover Company based in Houston, Tex. is the developer and the architect is ADD Inc.
The recent groundbreaking is the first of three phases of development at Pier 4, a 9.5 acre site that includes 4 acres of water. The Pier 4 Planned Development Area (PDA) was proposed by New England Development and approved in March 2005. In December 2011 the BRA board approved a Notice of Project Change (NPC) revising the project.
The revised PDA details a three phase project totaling 1 million s/f and including 20,000 s/f for civic use, 625,000 s/f for residential use, and 314,700 s/f of hotel use. The project also includes a one-acre public waterfront park, a waterfront plaza, 1,800 feet of harborwalk, a water commons with a water taxi landing, fish cleaning station, bait and tackle shop, touch and go dock, and all seasons gathering area.
"100 Pier 4 is another exciting project breaking ground on our bustling waterfront," said mayor Menino.
"We have four major housing developments under construction, the future headquarters of Vertex Pharmaceuticals well underway, and the nation's first public innovation center scheduled to open this spring. The South Boston Waterfront is quickly emerging as an innovative and exciting day to night neighborhood."
Current housing development in the Innovation District totals nearly half a billion dollars. The projects under construction include: Boston Wharf Tower at 319A St. Rear with 202 units, 63 Melcher St. with 38 units, West Sq. at 320 D St. with 256 units, Waterside Place at 505 Congress St. with 236 units, and 100 Pier 4 with 369 units. The projected housing build out for the Innovation District is 6,000 units.