If things go according to plan, a skyscraper looming above Boston's South Station will be under construction by the end of the year. And Tufts will build it.
The project started nearly 20 years ago, when then-University President Jean Mayer called for the creation of a skyscraper dedicated to medical research on top of South Station.
Tufts created a construction subsidiary in the 1980s, Tufts University Development Corporation, LLC (TUDC), to oversee the project. TUDC has spent its time since securing permits and construction rights.
While plans for the skyscraper at 650 Atlantic Avenue have been scaled back from their original form, arrangements now call for the construction of a 49-story office tower, a 13-story hotel and an additional nine-story office building. The structures will be built behind South Station, on top of what is now railroad tracks leading to the bus terminal.
The project also calls for several transit-related improvements to South Station and the bus terminal. For instance, the capacity of the bus terminal will be expanded by roughly 40 percent.
The neighborhood surrounding South Station is the home of Tufts' Boston campus, which includes the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Medicine, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences.
While Tufts has played a large role in the development of the project, it is expected that the university will not occupy the building. Rather, it will sell the building after completion.
TUDC has a partner in the project, Hines Interests LP. According to David Perry, senior vice president of Hines and manager of the South Station project, TUDC has been given the right by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to build in the airspace above South Station, but the city of Boston still owns the airspace. Perry said that Tufts must finish financing and acquiring proper permits before it can purchase the airspace. Hines has more experience working with construction projects than TUDC and has been handling permit acquisition.
"Once permitting and financing are complete, the air rights will be sold jointly to Hines and to TUDC," Perry said.
While it was reported last year that the project would break ground in 2007, problems with paperwork have prevented its commencement.
So far, two contractors were hired for the project: Clark Construction Group, based in Bethesda, Md., and Hunt Construction Group, based in Phoenix, Ariz. Representatives from these companies were unavailable for comment.
Perry is optimistic about the project. While there is no set date for groundbreaking, he expects it to begin in 2008. "The expectation is it will start sometime this year," Perry said.
If all goes as planned, the building should be complete by 2010.
According to a press release from Hines, 650 Atlantic Avenue will be a "green," or environmentally friendly, building. In fact, the building has already received a certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Core and Shell Development program, a part of the United States Green Building Council.
The building is the first office building in Boston to be pre-certified by LEED, having received a silver level of certification. This award will be reviewed after the project has finished.
Hines has been involved with other environmentally friendly projects and has also constructed several buildings in Boston. In 2004, Hines became the first real estate company to be recognized by the EPA for its projects.
Former President Mayer was involved in expanding the university in other ways at the same time the South Station project was proposed. He founded the federally funded Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.
