Five years from now, the Fan Pier - Seaport District neighborhood will be practically unrecognizable, based on what’s being planned for the area.

According to The Boston Herald:

Long-time city developer Joe Fallon yesterday offered a sneak peak of the design of the long-anticipated Fan Pier project, the largest waterfront project in Boston’s history.

Fallon, in a presentation to a City Hall design panel, laid out his vision for a new Hub neighborhood of nine city blocks and three million square feet of residences, offices, shops and restaurants.

While the project would be dominated by high-rise condos, offices and hotels - up to 21 stories - the buildings will be lined with restaurants and stores at street level. Two major parks, a marina and a harborwalk would also make the development accessible to the public.

A flagship condo and hotel tower will be the first to go up. The high-rise will take shape next to the Institute of Contemporary Art’s soon-to-open glass harborfront showcase and Anthony’s Pier 4.

Intercontinental Real Estate Corp, new owners of a plot of land on D Street, in the Seaport District, received approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to build 585 condos within four buildings, ranging in height from six to 17 stories.

The project is scheduled to be completed approximately two years from now.

The Seaport District is to undergo a tremendous amount of change over the coming years, with the build-out of Fan Pier, Pier 4, bringing new hotels, office towers, and residences to the area.

More: Apartment project is reborn as condos in a new S. Boston - By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., The Boston Globe

Developers in the Seaport District are facing off against long-time residents, who fear for the future of their neighborhood, now that the area has become Boston’s next development hotspot.

Boston’s zoning board signed off yesterday on a plan to convert a Fort Point building into 87 high-end condos.

That plan includes seven affordable units, or roughly 9 percent of the total and far below the 13 percent to 20 percent affordable-unit mix that City Hall has pledged for the area, according to one local activist.

However, the developer says that’s not exactly accurate.

According to him, the project will feature two three-bedroom units, three artist live-work units, one two-bedroom, and one studio.

In his opinion, the units will be more appealing to families and to the artists who have made Fort Point their home, so the actual percentage number of the units set aside is not relevant.

Source: The Boston Herald

From The Boston Herald and The Boston Globe:

The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday largely cleared the way for the development of more than 11 acres of parks and buildings up to 180 feet tall in the reemerging Fort Point Channel area …

… Four large landowners — Gillette Co., US Postal Service, Archon Group, and Beacon Capital Partners LLC — are covered by the rules approved yesterday, which applies to the area along the east side of the Fort Point Channel south of Summer Street. It is known as “the hundred acres” but is actually about 89 acres in size.

… The BRA’s vote sets the stage for what could be $2 billion worth of development that could create a new neighborhood of offices, parks, condos, apartments and shops within the shadow of Boston’s Financial District, said Kairos Shen, director of planning for the city authority.

Developers are proposing as many as 2,300 units of housing, for the area, to be built over the coming years.

Sources: BRA takes the Point with plan: 100 acres across from South Station eyed - By Scott Van Voorhis, The Boston Herald and BRA approves master plan for Fort Point Channel area - By Thomas C. Palmer, Jr., The Boston Globe