In Addition to the Seaport, These Boston Neighborhoods are Flourishing

At nearly 1,000 acres, and with $18 billion in public money invested, Boston’s Seaport district is one of Greater Boston’s most lauded new neighborhoods. With gleaming new office towers, luxury apartments, corporate headquarters, and innovation labs, the Seaport is frequently cited as one of the region’s great hubs of activity and the center of the city’s staggering development renaissance. The surge of new hotels and restaurants in just a few years’ time has utterly revamped an area previously marred by parking lots and deserted railroad tracks.

While the Seaport’s progress is undeniable, the momentum around the district sometimes dominates Boston’s headlines, overshadowing several other neighborhoods in recent years. Here are a few of the peak transformations from across the city.

---

Back Bay

Anchored by Natixis Global Asset Management – which leases five floors – and located next to the Prudential Center, the 17-story office tower at 888 Boylston is a welcomed new addition in one of Boston’s bustling consumer centers. In fact, it is the first major new office development in Back Bay since 111 Huntington Avenue opened in 2001. Today, Eataly, Tesla and Under Armour are highly visible on the building’s ground floor, with Del Frisco's poised to open a new outpost there in the next several months.

And by using 45% less energy and 37% less water than the average office building, the 425,000 square foot 888 Boylston is one of the most sustainable office and retail buildings in Boston to date.

Fenway

Located at 1325 Boylston Street in the Fenway, the 172-unit Van Ness is one of Boston's largest apartment buildings to debut in recent memory. More than a prime residence, the 11-story building also contains 237,000 square feet of office space and a 170,000 square foot Target located on its ground floor. This mixed-use facility is the latest Fenway lynchpin kick-started by Boston developer Steve Samuels. Samuels has also championed the 952,000-square-foot Landmark Center and the vibrant Fenway Triangle, which sports 405 luxury apartments, Tiffani Faison’s popular Sweet Cheeks BBQ restaurant, and a West Elm home furnishings store, among other amenities. Samuels is responsible for the Verb Hotel and Hojoko, a Japanese gastropub, revitalizing a plot adjacent to Fenway Park, which had previously been home to a Howard Johnson’s Inn.

South End

Rising from the site of a former Boston Herald property is National Development’s $200 million Ink Block project. The first floor is dominated by a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods supermarket, one of the first in the neighborhood and the largest Whole Foods in Boston. Ink Block also features 315 apartments in three distinct buildings as well as a Marriott hotel.

Recently, National Development and Reebok joined forces, partnering on the Underground at Ink Block, a gathering place, cultural attraction and parking amenity, located beneath an I-93 overpass. The 8-acre urban park is the latest example of Boston revitalizing unused space in the city.

Brighton

Boston Landing is a new 14-acre mixed-use development located alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike. Formerly the site of the region's largest stockyard, today Boston Landing is home to the 55,000 square foot Warrior Ice Arena, the official practice facility of the Bruins as well as the Auerbach Center at New Balance’s World Headquarters, the Celtic’s new practice facility. A commuter rail stop on the Framingham/Worcester line goes directly to South Station and marks the return of rail service to Allston-Brighton for the first time since the 60s.

Earlier this year, Boston Landing announced the new name for its 17-story, 295-unit residential luxury apartment high-rise: Lantera.

Since the launch of Boston Landing, a new slew of restaurants and retail have popped up in the surrounding region. And Bose has announced it will lease 98,000 square feet beginning this summer.

---

As you can see there is a lot of revitalization to be excited about in Boston in addition to the Seaport.  Collectively, these developments have put a modern stamp on our city, shaping people’s impressions of Boston as an economic and global leader.