By Lauren Harvey of Boston University

Millennium Tower

Millennium Tower Rendering

426 Washington Street in Downtown Crossing will be the home of the Millennium Tower, Millennium Partners newest and possibly most striking addition to the Boston Real Estate Market. The same developer that brought us the Ritz-Carlton Condos, One Charles, Millennium Place, and now Millennium Tower is working with Handel Architects and Mayor Tom Menino to restore Downtown Crossing back to the prosperous area it once was. With the restoration of the Burnham Building, future home of Arnold International, the area will soon thrive with fresh new life while still holding the integrity of its history.

Residential Details

Millennium Tower Boston will be the tallest residential building as well as 4^th tallest building in the city, standing 625 feet high with a total of 60 stories. The 1.1 million square feet of space will hold around 500 luxury condos and the lower floors, along with the adjacent Burnham Building, will hold well distinguished retail and unrivaled office space. The units, both rental and condominium, will range from 1 to 4 bedrooms with prices starting at $750,000. Due to the prime location and height of the building, the unit’s views of Boston will be first of its kind seen by any residence in the city. Since the project is still in its early stages (having broke ground on Sept. 17^th) many details are not yet known or confirmed. We will be actively posting as new information is released.

The Burnham Building

Better known as the old Filene’s Basement, the Burnham Building will be in the center of the Downtown Crossing restoration. The building was designed by Daniel Hudson Burnham, the same architect who designed NYC’s Penn Station and Washington D.C.’s Union Station. The building will be restored back to its former grandeur by Millennium, containing 185,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail space with 550 parking spots below. Roche Brother’s grocery store and Arnold Worldwide advertising company have already claimed part of the available space.

The Downtown Crossing Movement

The development of Millennium Place, Millennium Towers, and the restoration of the Burnham Building have attracted new, exciting, luxury businesses  to the area that cater to its new residents. Here are some of the businesses reported to be joining Downtown Crossing along with Roche Bros. and Arnold Worldwide…

Legal Sea Foods(Legal Crossing) - Legal is in talks with Millennium Place to open there with a new restaurant concept. Restaurant will provide room service to Millennium Place Residents.

The Painted Burro- Joe Cassinelli, owner of the Painted Burro and Posto in Somerville, has confirmed that he will be opening another Painted Burro restaurant on Temple place where Windsor Button stands now. The new restaurant will have all the great Mexican qualities as the one in Somerville, just much larger.

Sweet Tooth- This local bakery from Southie has created quite the buzz, being featured on Phantom Gourmet and recognized in numerous magazines. This is full service bakery has countless desserts at the ready, catering, and costume cakes to order. The bakery will be opening a second location in the Corner Mall.

Strada 45- Talk has been going around that a new restaurant, Strada 45, will be filling the vacant space at 45 Providence Street. This will be a 3-story bar/ lounge and wood fired pizza restaurant.

Along side new restaurants and stores, the streets and sidewalk areas will be redone to brighten and enrich the physical appearance of Downtown Crossing. The millions of private and public investment dollars are the efforts to create all the components of a 24-hour, full functioning neighborhood. As the Millennium Tower and the area develop we’ll be posting pictures, updates, reviews and more.