Luxury Condos Underway at One Dalton Street, Back Bay

Originally appeared on BostonGlobe.com, Written by Casey Ross

Boston is evolving, and the new 700 foot tower underway at One Dalton Street is part of the change. Developer Richard L. Friedman will officially begin construction on the building today, marking the beginning of the construction of the largest tower to be built in Boston in 40 years. 

Rendering, Pei Cobb Freed/Cambridge Seven Associates

The new skyscraper will include a Four Seasons Hotel (the city's second) as well as what will be some of Boston's most expensive condos. The condos are being hailed as "the best of everything," with 11-foot ceilings, a fireplace in every unit, and kitchens equipped with state-of-the-art appliances. 

The project, estimated now at $750-million, will go up next to the Christian Science Plaza, and is expected to be complete by 2017. 

The quality and scope of the new building marks the emergence of a new Boston, which has become a city full of real estate commodities, with investment from all over the world. 

Gregory Vasil, chief executive of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, proclaims that "we're not good old Boston anymore." 

However, as part of the city's inclusionary development policy, Friedman is also developing a number of affordable units off-site, at an undisclosed location. 

The skycraper at One Dalton is being designed by architect Harry N. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, who also designed Boston's iconic Hancock Tower, and Gary Johnson of Cambridge Seven Associates Inc.

Johnson envisions One Dalton as a landmark, a way to know just by looking at it where you are in the city.