The Daily Dig
Procter & Gamble has submitted a Letter of Intent to the City of Boston's Planning Department to redevelop Gillette's 31-acre South Boston campus along Fort Point Channel. The proposal centers on a nine-story, 335,000 square foot headquarters and technical innovation center for the Gillette brand, part of a broader plan carrying nearly $1 billion in projected investment.
The master plan would convert the longtime industrial campus into a mixed-use waterfront district with housing, office and research space, retail, restaurant uses, hotel space, and public open space. Gillette intends to shift manufacturing off the South Boston site to its 150-acre campus in Andover, Massachusetts, where a new production facility is planned.
The Fort Point Channel location would serve as home base for 750 employees across leadership, research and development, and engineering.
Project Snapshot:
Developer / Applicant: Procter & Gamble (Gillette)
Location: South Boston along Fort Point Channel, Boston, Massachusetts
Site Size: 31 acres
Action: Letter of Intent filed for redevelopment of existing industrial campus
Headquarters / Innovation Center: 9 stories, 335,000 square feet
Investment: Nearly $1 billion associated with the headquarters and innovation center plan
Residential: Approximately 1,800 mixed-income units across 9 buildings
Office / Research Space: Approximately 3.5 million square feet across about 11 buildings
Retail / Restaurant: Approximately 200,000 square feet
Hotel: Approximately 250,000 square feet
Open Space: 6.5-acre waterfront park; roughly 50% of the site planned as open space and public realm
Waterfront Access: New 1,200-foot Harborwalk connection
Existing Campus: Approximately 1.5 million square feet of industrial and commercial space currently on site
Manufacturing Relocation: Operations moving to Gillette's 150-acre campus in Andover, Massachusetts, where a new manufacturing center is planned
South Boston Workforce: 750 employees in leadership, R&D, and engineering roles
Resiliency Elements: Site elevation improvements, increased permeable surfaces, nature-based stormwater solutions, and expanded tree cover
Status / Next Step: Letter of Intent filed; project entering formal City of Boston review and continued community engagement
TheJobWalk Thoughts
Thirty-one acres of developable land in Boston is about as rare as a subcontractor with zero change orders. What makes this project worth tracking closely is the scale and the sequence.
The master plan calls for nine residential buildings, eleven office and research structures, hotel space, 200,000 square feet of retail, and a full public realm buildout along Fort Point Channel. That does not happen in one procurement cycle. It moves parcel by parcel as phases clear design and approvals, which means the bid opportunities will spread across years, not months. The firms that show up early to community meetings and city review sessions will understand
the phasing before scopes ever hit the street. The Andover manufacturing relocation adds a separate procurement opportunity on a 150-acre campus with a new production facility in the pipeline. For GCs, specialty contractors, and suppliers, this is two projects under one client relationship, and that relationship is worth building now.
