Texas Developer Breaks Ground on South Boston Residential Tower

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

Hanover Co., a Houston-based real estate company specializing in the acquisition, development, and management of multifamily properties, broke ground on November 16 on one of the largest housing developments in Boston’s Seaport District.

Totaling over 400,000 square feet, the new building (pictured at right) called “100 Pier 4” is located at Seaport Boulevard and Northern Avenue, on a piece of land previously owned by New England Development, a real estate investment company based in Newton, MA. Earlier in May Hanover Co. purchased the site for $24.6 million according to the Boston Herald.

Estimated to cost around $195 million, the apartment tower will rise 21-stories. It will include a mix of 369 units ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments, 50 of which will be designated as “innovative units”—they will be smaller, more compact and affordable for young professionals who work in the Seaport District. The building will also feature an underground parking garage with 258 spaces, a restaurant operated by the Athanas family (which had to close its waterfront restaurant during the construction), as well as 10,800 square feet of ground floor retail space. Construction at the site is expected to be complete by early 2014.

The residential tower was designed by local architecture firm ADD Inc. and represents Phase I of a complex revitalization project that aims to transform South Boston’s Pier 4 into the city’s first choice destination for shopping, dining, living, working and visiting. In late 2011 the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved New England Development’s 1,000,000-square-foot mixed-use project that would include new office buildings, residential towers, restaurants and entertainment venues.

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Renderings courtesy of Hanover Co. and New England Development