New owner of Fort Point office building seeks to turn it into life-sciences space; says it will monitor social media for any incorrect statements about its plans

GI Partners, a San Francisco-based equity firm, has filed plans with the BPDA to convert the nine-story 51 Melcher St. into life-sciences space.

In September, GI recently paid $74.6 million for the building, which went up in 1915 as part of the Boston Wharf Co.'s redevelopment of the area, It bought the building from an LLC that paid $52.8 million for the building in 2014.

GI says it will leave the building's historic outside the same, but will extensively renovate the interior - which was renovated in 2011 - to accommodate life-sciences labs and related offices. This will include installation of a new HVAC system to handle the increased demands of biotech work for ventilation.

Much of that work can be accommodated through HVAC units on each floor - with louvered ventilation outlets only visible from Necco Court - reducing the amount of noise-generating equipment on the roof, the company says. Rooftop HVAC systems on life-sciences buildings have become an issue in South Boston.

Unusual for a development filing, GI includes a social-media policy in its project notification form:

We will monitor the social media around the Project and correct misinformation.

The monitoring is part of an overall "public outreach strategy" to inform neighbors about what really happens inside life-sciences buildings that will include "consistent, meaningful, and relevant interaction" with "local community groups, residents, artists and businesses" - as well as monitoring what they say online.

GI says it hopes to begin nine to twelve months of renovation work in mid-2022.

51 Melcher St. filings and calendar.