Back Bay builder seeks OK for 19-story tower

Boston Globe
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff

Prudential Center owner Boston Properties Inc. yesterday asked the city's permission to raise the height of an office tower it plans to build at the Back Bay complex from 11 to 19 stories.

The new building would be 265 feet high, 110 feet taller than previously planned. The company had earlier won city approval for a 287,493-square-foot building at 888 Boylston St., to be built in front of the Prudential Tower. Yesterday, Boston Properties asked to increase the total square footage to about 439,000.

It would be the last office building for the Prudential Center complex.

The request is in keeping with a rush by developers around the city to build office space while the local economy remains strong and vacancies at top-quality addresses fall to near-record lows.

Richard L. Kiley, a member of PruPac, a city-appointed citizens' advisory group for Prudential Center development issues, said building height has always "been a tough sell."

He questioned whether the 19-floor request is a bargaining move by Boston Properties. "You ask for more, because whatever you ask for you know they're going to tone it down," said Kiley. "Maybe they want 15."

But Robin Brown, codeveloper of the luxury Mandarin Oriental Boston hotel and residences at the Prudential Center, was enthusiastic about the prospect. "I think the new office building's a great development for the Back Bay," he said.

Boston Properties executives had no comment.

If approved, the building would have 369,000 square feet of office space and about 51,000 for retail on two or three floors, with the remainder common space.

Also yesterday, Boston Properties said it has chosen Avalon Bay to build a 30-story, 200-unit residential apartment tower on Exeter Street, which also had been previously planned. That building would be 340 feet high.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.