Houston-based Hines had secured approvals on a plan originally introduced in 1990 with then partner TUDC, an affiliate of Tufts University. The original plan called for strictly office construction in the first phase.

Other major projects approved by the BPDA Board included Skanska Commercial's $110-million Parcel Q1 project that calls for the construction of an approximately 298,700 square foot, 13-story commercial building with 8,400 square feet of ground floor retail, 211,700 square feet of office space, and three levels of parking to accommodate approximately 150 vehicles. The project also proposes an approximately 12,900 square foot urban plaza to increase publicly accessible open space within the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park.

Other Notice of Project Change approvals by the agency were the Parcel K mixed-use development on the South Boston Waterfront and residential projects at 30 Polk St. in Charleston and 422 River St. in Mattapan.

New projects that can now move toward groundbreaking thanks BPDA approvals were the $71-million senior affordable project Quincy Tower in Chinatown; an $18-million rental housing project at 3353 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain and a $47-million mixed-use development at 280-290 Warren St. in Roxbury.

BOSTON—The Boston Planning & Development Agency gave the green light last week to the multi-phased 51-story South Station mixed-use project to be developed by Hines and partner Gemdale Properties & Investment Corp. as well as Skanska Commercial's office project in the Seaport district.

In total, the BPDA approved eight development projects valued at more than $1 billion. In addition, the BPDA Board approved the PLAN, an initiative geared at implementing infrastructure, quality of life and housing improvements in the South Boston Dorchester Avenue region. The plan establishes goals and strategies that will help drive short- and long-term public-private investments in the community, including a new network of streets, public parks and green space, a range of housing types, and additional commercia, industrial and retail activity for South Boston. City officials say the plan will serve as the foundation to update zoning in the area so that it “aligns with the community's vision and creates predictable conditions for future development.”

According to city documents, the plan when fully implemented could result in the addition of 6 million to 8 million square feet of residential space, 5 million to 7 million square feet of office space and 500,000 square feet to 1 million square feet of retail and cultural space in the area.

Construction on the South Street Station air rights project is expected to begin this spring. The BPDA Board approved Hines' Notice of Project Change, which it filed with the agency in late July. The first phase of the project at the historic South Street Station will include a 51-story tower starting nine stories above ground (that will extend 640-feet to the top of the highest floor and 677 feet to the top of the architectural enclosure of the rooftop mechanical equipment). Floors 9 to 34 will feature 711,000 square feet of office space and on floors 36 to 51 will host 175 residential units (321,000 square feet). Also included in the first phase is the 106,000-square-foot expansion of the South Station terminal and 7,000 square feet of retail, according to Hines' Notice of Project Change.

Houston-based Hines had secured approvals on a plan originally introduced in 1990 with then partner TUDC, an affiliate of Tufts University. The original plan called for strictly office construction in the first phase.

Other major projects approved by the BPDA Board included Skanska Commercial's $110-million Parcel Q1 project that calls for the construction of an approximately 298,700 square foot, 13-story commercial building with 8,400 square feet of ground floor retail, 211,700 square feet of office space, and three levels of parking to accommodate approximately 150 vehicles. The project also proposes an approximately 12,900 square foot urban plaza to increase publicly accessible open space within the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park.

Other Notice of Project Change approvals by the agency were the Parcel K mixed-use development on the South Boston Waterfront and residential projects at 30 Polk St. in Charleston and 422 River St. in Mattapan.

New projects that can now move toward groundbreaking thanks BPDA approvals were the $71-million senior affordable project Quincy Tower in Chinatown; an $18-million rental housing project at 3353 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain and a $47-million mixed-use development at 280-290 Warren St. in Roxbury.