GE can jet ahead as city OKs Fort Point HQ
General Electric's Fort Point campus sailed through the Boston Planning and Development Agency last night, with unanimous approval for a plan that would give the company up to $25 million in tax breaks over the next 20 years for its proposed 12-story building that company officials say will be a cornerstone of the area.
“We're designing with the concept that we're staying here for 42 years — hopefully longer,” said GE Ecosystem Transformation Leader Peter Cavanaugh at the hearing, referring to the company's history of moving headquarters every four decades.
GE's plan calls for a 290,000-square-foot headquarters at the site and rehabbing the two brick Necco buildings while retaining the “green bridge” between those two buildings to create a 2.4-acre campus. The new headquarters will have only 30 parking spaces — despite hosting 800 employees. It will have an open area leading to the Harborwalk called “GE Plaza” and a solar veil on its top and side that will provide 10 percent of the campus' energy, Cavanaugh said.
The project will produce about $2.4 million in housing linkage payments and $481,000 in job linkage payments, GE officials said, and they projected it would create more than 4,000 permanent and temporary jobs. GE has also pledged $25 million in contributions to Boston Public Schools, $15 million toward health care and opioid treatment programs and $10 million toward technology workforce building.
According to city figures, the entire GE campus could bring in $92 million in taxes over the next 20 years. But GE will get tax breaks on its headquarters of up to $25 million in $1.5 million installments if it brings in and retains 800 new employees by 2025.
Cavanaugh said the company will file an annual report with BPDA tracking the number of employees at the site once the headquarters receives occupancy permits.
The city's zoning board will hold a public hearing on GE's plans on Nov. 16 and the company still needs state environmental approvals before the site gets a go-ahead.