Much more optimistic title than "South Station Tower - Dead Forever??"
Article from about a month ago:
Final reports filed for 1.8M-square-foot South Station project
Boston Business Journal
Hines Interests LP and TUDC LLC have filed final impact reports with the state and city for the 1.8 million-square-foot mixed-use project proposed at South Station Transportation Center.
The development partners filed an environmental impact report with the state and the final project impact report with the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The final reports respond to issues raised by the state and city in permits filed in 2000 and 2002.
The filings represent a major step forward in the development of the site, according to an announcement by the development partners.
The documents represent revisions to the proposal in response to comments and concerns raised from such neighbors as the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The revised project includes a proposed 40-story office tower, a 13-story hotel and residential building and a nine-story office building to be built on air rights between the back of South Station and the bus terminal. Hines has proposed $40 million in transportation-related improvements to South Station. The transportation improvements would connect the train station and bus terminal and expand the terminal by 40 percent.
David Perry, senior vice president at Hines, said in a statement the South Station project will generate approximately 2,600 jobs during construction and approximately 6,000 permanent jobs in the hotel and office buildings after completion.
Linkage payments will total approximately $10 million, and real estate taxes are anticipated to be approximately $12 million per year, according to the statement, which said the total private investment in the project is expected to exceed $800 million.
The plan to redevelop South Station first came about in 1963. In 1984 the MBTA, BRA and Federal Railroad Administration announced the plan to redevelop the site into a major transportation and commercial center. In 1991, the BRA designated TUDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tufts University, as the developer of the air rights above South Station.
TUDC selected Hines to be its co-developer in October 1997 and later selected Cesar Pelli & Associates Inc. of New Haven, Conn. as the design architect.
Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide with assets valued at $11.7 billion. Hines has been active in the Boston real estate market since 1980, and is the developer and property manager of 500 Hundred Boylston and 222 Berkeley St.
