Breaking ground on May 8, General Electric Co.’s new $200-million global headquarters will rise on Boston’s Fort Point Channel. Two historic brick buildings will be joined into one structure and connect via a bridge and pedestrian walkway to a new 12-story building. The campus will house approximately 800 employees in nearly 400,000 sq ft.

Suffolk Construction was selected to build the new building in December, while GE announced at the ground breaking ceremony on May 8 that Consigli Construction Co. Inc. was picked to build the brick buildings. Owned by the state’s economic development and finance agency, the brick buildings were bid publicly. Todd Dundon, principal for project architect Gensler, said working with two contractors complicates logistics and scheduling, but he is confident the two contractors will “work hand in hand together with GE to make it work.”

The campus will include maker space and hands-on classroom workspace for tech start-ups, students and community members, along with an expanded, 1.5-acre Harborwalk, a public coffee bar and restaurant. Set back from the channel to create outdoor space, the new structure also has a 500-person event space on the 11th floor. Referring to a cantilever expressed through an exposed, two-story truss that runs along the sixth and seventh floors, Dundon said the design “allowed us to address setback requirements in combination with program requirements.” The brick buildings will be occupied in mid-2018, and the new structure will open in early 2019.

This story was updated with new information at 8 p.m. on May 8