Last week brought news of the newest owner of Fan Pier. Stephen R. Karp, Boston Properties, and the Related Companies LP of New York are the newest developer of Fan Pier, arriving at that position less than a month after the Lennar Corp signed a deal to buy the property from the Pritzker family.
According to reports Lennar didn't make a required down payment on the $125 million purchase price and the Pritzkers immediately set about renegotiating with Karp, who had been one of the original bidders. Last week it was announced he would take over this project and he promised to start building by the end of next year. He is paying the same $125 million for the permitted site.
Karp has an option to purchase the 10 acre Pier 4 site next to Fan Pier and has already set out plans for building out Pier 4. Karp has indicated that he may "tie together" the plans for both piers. Until then, here are the current plans for building out Pier 4.
Pier 4 will be turned into 1 million square feet of office, hotel and residential space, constructed in three buildings, an office building, a residential building and a hotel/residential building.
When completed Pier 4 will house some 300,000 sq. feet of residential space, 225,000 sq. ft of hotel space, almost 400,000 sq feet of office. There will be 35,000 sq. feet of retail space in the office and hotel buildings.
Out of the 400,000 sq feet of land on the Pier, plans call for keeping over half of it for public use. That includes building another 1800 feet of the Harborwalk, around the boundaries of the pier, a Waterfront Park, a Waterfront Plaza and a Waterfront Commons. In addition there will be 20,000 sq. feet of dedicated civic/cultural space in the office building.
There will be decorative pavings on the Harborwalk, landscaping, trees and street furniture to create an inviting pedestrian environment, access to the public areas from the lobby of the office building and outdoor terrace seating and outdoor cafes along the waterfront plaza.
There will be 1200 parking spaces in an underground garage with a 1.5:1 ratio of parking spaces available for residents.
A water taxi landing area will be built on the Water Commons.
Karp stated that construction on Fan Pier will start by the end of next year.
The Boston Harbor Journal