BOSTON — JLL has arranged an $870 million construction loan for the first phase of the redevelopment of Boston’s South Station transit hub. Upon completion, the project will ultimately comprise 1.9 million square feet of commercial and residential space.
The initial phase will feature a 1.2 million-square-foot, 51-story mixed-use tower rising above the historic transit station, which was built in 1898. Scheduled for completion in 2024, the tower will house approximately 660,000 square feet of Class A office space, 166 condominium units and more than 500 parking spaces. Pelli Clark Pelli Architects is designing the project.
The office component will feature 26,000-square-foot floor plates, 13-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and unobstructed views of downtown Boston and Boston Harbor. The residential component will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as penthouse duplex units, and amenities such as an outdoor pool, fitness center, conference center and onsite restaurant.
Riaz Cassum and Jennifer Kelly of JLL arranged the loan through The Children’s Investment Fund on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Hines, APG Groep NV and Dune Real Estate Partners.
“Developments of this quality and magnitude arise infrequently in a mature market such as Boston,” says Cassum. “The tower at South Station has an irreplaceable, transit-oriented location above one of our city’s busiest transportation hubs and will offer best-in-class office and residential space for discerning tenants and residents.”
South Station is located in between Boston’s Central Business District and Seaport District and is a hub for several MBTA, commuter rail and bus lines. It is the busiest transit station in New England, and in its early days even surpassed New York City’s Grand Central Station for number of passengers per year.
— Taylor Williams