Paul's House Diary

The new tower (and concourse) at South Station has been cooking for about half a century. It was initially proposed as part of a mixed-use project that included a satellite campus for Tufts in the late 1980s and early 1990s–a period defined by the “Massachusetts Miracle,” when the local economy bucked national trends and Boston’s Financial District gained a respectable skyline. 

Although local icons like the Federal Reserve–the International-style, 600-foot ladder straddling Fort Point–and the Pregnant Building–home to BofA (nee Fleet, nee BayBank, nee Shawmut)– sprouted up before the “Miracle” ended, South Station Tower missed the boom. This was in large part due to the tangled web of stakeholders involved in building what’s functionally an air rights project over a multi-modal transit hub, in an era where city and state governments were notorious for inefficiency (and in many cases corruption, see The Big Dig). 

As is the trend these days, the tower we eventually got is essentially a luxury condo development, which, like the Lyra, won’t necessarily help with the housing crisis, but will hopefully make a dent in the market while offering something truly unique over other new construction. 

Along with creating homes for the rich, the tower is perched over one of the busiest rail and bus depots in the country. I don’t see many of the tower’s residents opting for Amtrak over private cars or jets, but the larger project is exactly the kind of mixed-use, transit-oriented development that belongs atop a meeting place like South Station. 

The lower floors of the tower are targeted for Class A office space, not the Four Seasons Residences that get the penthouse-level views above the tower’s “first step.” I personally love the idea of stepping off the commuter rail and taking an elevator straight to my office during a windy Boston winter, which already gives these leases an edge over other commercial real estate on offer across the city (ie. far-flung, windswept stretches of the Seaport). 

The tower itself also makes the best of the conditions that inform its design. While past proposals featured a more uniform glass tower topped by what would be the most dramatic (and maybe first legitimate) spire on the city’s skyline (absolutely no shade to the Custom House Tower’s ‘hat’), that was never reasonably going to happen with Logan Airport just across the harbor and height restrictions enforcing the Financial District’s “buzzcut” look of flat-topped 600-footers. 

The new building has a series of successive steps that make it more slender as it rises when viewed head-on from either Dewey Square (points North) or from Interstate 93 northbound (points South). While it’s cursed like so many other Boston skyscrapers to take on the “fat glass box” look when viewed from the East or West, the tower sports an illuminated crown that’s at least more playful and decoratively-ambitious than its recent peers in the neighborhood (see the exposed roof of the Millennium Tower when driving toward the city on 93 South for reference). 

It remains to be seen if the ‘hanging gardens’ on each tier of the structure that were included in early illustrations of the tower will actually be planted once the project is completed. Still, amenities like the new train hall, upgraded bus terminal, and just overhauled vibe of the surrounding neighborhoods (Leather District, Seaport, Dewey Square) that this sharp, clean facade brings are contributions enough to make the area more inviting. 

The pics below were taken in early August and late June 2025 to try to capture the building from all sides while construction wraps on its exterior. I’m hoping that as the publicly accessible facets of the building are completed, I can snag even better views and angles in the weeks and months to come. 

Nearby smoke stacks for good measure…