Coronavirus won’t delay Boston’s tallest new building, developer says
The 691-foot Winthrop Center—the tallest U.S. building under construction north of New York City, in fact—is still on pace to open in 2022
(Winthrop Center under construction in mid-March, just as Boston’s building moratorium went into effect.)
The developer behind the tallest U.S. building under construction north of New York City is vowing to pivot strongly out of Boston’s construction moratorium.
The city on March 17 instituted a ban on most construction activity for at least two weeks in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Boston was the first U.S. city to do so.
MP Boston, an affiliate of Millennium Partners, issued a statement on March 18 saying that its development of the 691-foot Winthrop Center skyscraper at 115 Winthrop Square in the Financial District would continue after the ban—and, in some ways, was continuing right through it. The tower has been under construction since 2018. Per Kathleen MacNeil, a principal at MP Boston who oversees the firm’s construction:
Our main concern is the health and wellbeing of our construction teams. We are monitoring the situation very closely and following the direction given by the local, state and federal government and will be taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our workers. As developers in this great city for the past two decades, we are accustomed to overcoming great challenges. Meanwhile, our team will continue to work on all the project details, including shop drawings, fabrication plans, and logistics. As soon as we are given clearance, we will immediately resume the construction of Winthrop Center with speed and efficiency.
The composition of Winthrop Center is still evolving. At last count, it was due to encompass more than 1.54 million square feet and include some 387 condos, plus more than 772,000 gross square feet of office space. It will be New England’s fourth-tallest building, and sprang from the demolition of a garage that the city once owned.
It’s still scheduled to open in 2022, MP Partners says.