Image courtesy of Pelli Clarke & Partners

A deal with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation moved the 1.3 million-square-foot redevelopment of the MBTA’s Back Bay station property closer to groundbreaking.

Boston Properties signed a 90-year lease with the agency for the site, which includes a parking garage that would be partially demolished to make way for the 668,000-square-foot office tower. The agreement calls for base rent of $20 million and $37 million for station renovations, The Boston Globe reported.

Boston Properties has stated it doesn’t plan to break ground on any new office buildings without an anchor tenant.

The 5.2-acre South End Gateway development site includes the station property, parking garage, and air rights above the Massachusetts Turnpike and railroad tracks. Subsequent phases of the project include a 28-story, 240-unit residential tower, a 35-story, 360-unit residential tower and a 33,000-square-foot retail building. The project also includes renovations to the station concourse.

The project was approved in 2019 but has been delayed by the downturn in office space demand as companies shifted to hybrid work during and after the COVID pandemic.

In their fourth quarter earnings call, Boston Properties executives told analysts they don’t anticipate moving forward with any new office developments before securing “significant pre-leasing, higher expected development yields and joint venture equity.”

Work on the station renovations will begin before the groundbreaking of the office tower, the Globe reported.