Boston-based developer Weiner Ventures received approval for a 108-unit condominium tower in the Back Bay which, if completed, would be the city’s first successful air rights project since the 3.7-million-square-foot Copley Place in 1984.
The 1000 Boylston development includes four parcels, including two air rights sections above the Massachusetts Turnpike just west of the Prudential Center tunnel. A 2-story, 45,500-square-foot retail podium will face Boylston, Dalton and St. Cecilia Streets.
Built on a multimillion-dollar deck above the Turnpike, the project would fill a gap on the south side of Boylston Street created by the highway’s Boston extension in the 1960s. Three of the parcels are owned by Prudential Insurance, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the city of Boston.
The development plan also calls for $1.5 million for public realm improvements, including widening the Boylston Street sidewalk by seven feet and new public seating, landscaping and bicycle racks.
City planners have sought to encourage development of air rights parcels for decades as a way to reunite portions of Back Bay, South End and the Fenway that were transformed with the Turnpike’s construction.
The Boston Planning and Development Agency directors approved the project on Thursday. It also needs Boston zoning commission approval of the development plan.