Millennium Tower is a 60-story, residential skyscraper in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, United States. Construction began in 2013 at the site of the former flagship store for

Filene's Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...

Downtown Crossing Downtown Crossing is a shopping district within downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located east of Boston Common, west of the Financial District, south of Government Center, and north of Chinatown and the old Combat Zone. It features large ...

and was completed in 2016. , it is the fifth tallest building in Boston. The building contains 442

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

s, a

Roche Bros. Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. is a chain of supermarkets based in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The company's stores are primarily located in the Boston Metro Area. Roche Bros. also operates the supermarket chain Sudbury Farms. A third banner, Br ...

grocery store and

Class A office space An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

. Limited occupancy by residents began in July 2016.

History

Initial plans, demolition, and project halt

Millennium Tower and the Burnham Building occupy the space of the former flagship Filene's store. When Filene's closed, the building was put up for sale and was bought by

Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. Investments Notable properties owned by the ...

of New York. Vornado teamed up with Gale International for a $700 million redevelopment of the Filene's site. As approved in August 2007, the site redevelopment project consisted of a 39-story tower including a 280-room hotel, a 125-seat restaurant, of office space, 166 residential condos, of retail space, and an adjacent park. It was originally scheduled for completion by 2011. In order to gut the historic Filene's building and demolish an adjacent building, the project required closing

Filene's Basement Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms. The oldest off-price retailer in the United States, Filene's B ...

and the loss of 218 retail jobs. In Summer of 2008, the developers halted the project, citing the

Financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. As of the halt, demolition was nearly complete, leaving the Burnham building gutted and a large excavation where the non-landmarked parts of the former Filenes complex (built in the 1950s–1970s) had stood. The side of the Burnham building that was exposed by the nearby demolition was temporarily covered with a tarp. After two years of inactivity, the City of Boston revoked the developer's permits in November 2010.

Ownership change and construction start

In 2012, Millennium Partners took over the task and won approval for a 625-foot tower with 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of commercial and residential space in two buildings. On April 13, 2013, major tenant

Arnold Worldwide Arnold Worldwide is an American advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency is part of Havas, a global advertising holding company based in France. Some of Arnold's clients include Progressive Insurance, Cox Communication ...

was signed to occupy a large part of the new building. With the agreement in place, construction resumed. The building officially broke ground on September 17, 2013 with mayor Thomas M. Menino in attendance. On April 26, 2014, 600 trucks poured of concrete into a slab for the new building, making it the largest pour in the city's history.

Recent developments and tenants

Tenants, as of 2021, include

Roche Bros Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. is a chain of supermarkets based in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The company's stores are primarily located in the Boston Metro Area. Roche Bros. also operates the supermarket chain Sudbury Farms. A third banner, Br ...

supermarket. According to an August 2016 article in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', luxury condos have been purchased by local residents as well buyers from

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and

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. A Millennium executive estimated at the time that 75% of the owners will be living in their units in Downtown Crossing.

Gallery

File:Millennium Tower site pre construction.jpg, The site before construction started in April, 2013. This is looking towards the 1911 built Burnham Building. File:Millennium Tower construction, 2 May 2014.jpg, The Millennium Tower on May 2, 2014, with

(Burnham Building) on the right File:Millennium Tower construction, 29 May 2014.jpg, Construction of the Millennium Tower in late May 2014, almost at street level File:Millennium Tower construction, 18 August 2014.jpg, The tower in mid-August 2014. The first floor has been added, with the second on its way. File:Millennium Tower in December 2014.jpg, The tower on December 22, 2014 showing the first of the glass paneling. File:Millennium Tower Under Construction.jpg, Construction in September 2015 showing concrete skeleton and curtain wall going up. File:Millennium Tower on April 8th, 2016.jpg, Millennium Tower on April 8, 2016. Cladding is almost complete.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Financial District, Boston Residential skyscrapers in Boston Residential buildings completed in 2016