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BOSTON-Fan Pier, the long vacant site along the South Boston waterfront, is showing signs that development may be close at hand. The Fallon Co., which purchased the Fan Pier site about a year ago, has started erecting banners and a billboard announcing "Fan Pier-It's Here," signaling that a $1 billion mixed use project will soon break ground on the 21-acre parcel.

Fallon plans to construct a five-star hotel, condominiums and two office buildings as part of the first phase of Fan Pier's redevelopment. Fallon bought the property with the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company for $115 million from the Pritzker family, which owned the former parking lot and rail yard for about 20 years.

Fallon did not return calls from GlobeSt.com seeking comment.The site's first building, an upscale hotel and luxury residences designed by Hill Glazier Architects of Palo Alto, CA, is scheduled to open in 2009.