Developer proposes residential, office and research buildings on South Boston side of Fort Point Channel

Related Beal has notified the BPDA it will soon file detailed plans for a three-building complex on a 6.5-acre parcel between A Street and Fort Point Channel that it bought from Gillette for $218 million in May.

Related Beal is proposing three buildings - one residential, one office and one R&D, totaling 1.1 million square feet of space - on the site, which is now used as a parking lot. The buildings would range in height from 123 to 180 feet.

Also planned, according to the letter of intent submitted today: Parks and open space, including a stretch of the Harborwalk, that can be a place for people to hang out in good weather and which will double as barriers or catchment areas for all the water that will more regularly flood the area as sea levels rise.

Related Beal says it will work closely with city planners to ensure its measures work with the berm the city is designing to go along the channel to keep tides from destructively rolling across the area.

In addition to the BPDA, the state Department of Environmental Protection will also have to approve the proposal, because the land sits on "Commonwealth tidelands" over which the state has a say.

The land is already covered by a BPDA "planned development area," which means that the developer and the BPDA can negotiate all of the dimensions and uses of the building without requiring a separate hearing before the city zoning board.

244-284 A Street letter of intent (897k PDF).