Life Sciences
Procter & Gamble Plans $1B Gillette R&D Headquarters at Boston Waterfront Site
335,000-sq-ft waterfront facility would anchor manufacturer's Gillette headquarters and innovation center
Rendering shows the proposed 335,000-sq-ft laboratory and research building planned at 232 A St. along Boston’s Fort Point Channel, which Procter & Gamble plans to anchor with a new Gillette headquarters and innovation center.
Procter & Gamble plans to invest nearly $1 billion by building a nine-story headquarters and technical innovation center for its Gillette brand in Boston, anchoring a 335,000-sq-ft waterfront research and laboratory building planned along Fort Point Channel.
The new headquarters will be located next to Procter & Gamble's current manufacturing facility along the channel. The facility, with the iconic "Gillette World Shaving Headquarters" sign, is moving to the corporate parent's Andover, Mass., campus later this year. Plans are underway to redevelop its 31-acre South Boston campus into a mixed-use development featuring residential, retail, lab, and office spaces.
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The project centers on a research, laboratory and office building rising to about 150 ft, according to filings submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. The R&D facility would occupy a 2.4-acre parcel within one of the country’s largest life-science and office development clusters, known as the “100 Acres” Planned Development Area.
Breakthrough Properties—the life-science development platform of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital—advanced the project through Boston’s permitting process and controls the site.
An aerial view outlines the Fort Point Channel parcel at 232 A St. in Boston’s South Boston waterfront district.
Map courtesy of Breakthrough Properties
The Gillette division plans to establish a new global headquarters and innovation center, serving as the building's anchor. The facility will consolidate research, engineering and business operations currently located in various buildings throughout the company’s Boston campus, the company said in announcing the investment.
“This investment reflects our commitment to Gillette’s future and to Boston, where the brand has called home for more than a century,” Gary Coombe, chief executive of Gillette, said in a statement.
Planning documents describe the project as a laboratory-centric facility designed to support research and development activities, incorporating office space and limited ground-floor retail or civic uses. The building program covers approximately 335,000 sq ft and includes approximately 125 parking spaces below grade.
The level of detail in project filings is robust, including an estimated average daily water demand of roughly 27,600 gallons and wastewater generation of about 25,100 gallons. Transportation analysis prepared for the project anticipates roughly 1,260 daily vehicle trips once the building is fully occupied.
Engineering plans indicate that portions of the waterfront site will be raised above existing grades to strengthen flood protection along Fort Point Channel, while new stormwater management infrastructure will capture and treat runoff before discharge to the harbor. Utility planning documents also outline upgraded water, sewer and electrical connections to support laboratory systems and mechanical loads.
Project Team and Building Program
Design is being led by Boston architecture firm Payette, which specializes in laboratory and research facilities. Landscape architecture is being handled by Reed Hilderbrand, with Stantec serving as civil engineer.
Site plan shows the proposed Gillette R&D headquarters at 232 A St. along Boston’s Fort Point Channel, including the building footprint, public waterfront space and nearby I-90 tunnel infrastructure.
Map courtesy of Breakthrough Properties
Transportation analysis for the project was prepared by VHB and environmental permitting has been led by GEI Consultants, according to forms filed with the city.
Documents outlining the approved development envelope indicate the project team reduced the allowable development capacity from roughly 455,000 sq ft to about 335,000 sq ft and lowered the maximum building height from 180 ft to 150 ft following agency and community feedback.
The building is designed to integrate with Gillette’s existing campus along the Fort Point Channel waterfront.
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Waterfront Resilience
Given the site location along Fort Point Channel, the project incorporates coastal resilience measures and enhancements to the public waterfront, per Boston’s municipal harbor planning framework.
Plans call for roughly 1.5 acres of publicly accessible open space and expanded Harborwalk connections linking to the waterfront’s pedestrian network. The project also incorporates grading and landscape improvements to strengthen flood resilience along the channel and address projected sea-level rise risks for the district.
Planners expect a significant share of employees to arrive via transit, given the site’s proximity to South Station and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's Broadway station.
The 100 Acres redevelopment district is roughly 31 acres of former industrial land that city planners are transforming into a mixed-use neighborhood combining research and office buildings, housing, retail and public parks.
Boston officials welcomed the investment, pointing to Gillette’s long presence in the city’s manufacturing and research economy.
“Gillette has been part of Boston’s history for generations, and this investment strengthens the city’s role as a center for innovation and advanced research,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.
Neither a construction manager for the project nor a construction timeline has been announced.
Construction on the new headquarters is expected to start next year and could take several years to deliver.
After Procter & Gamble moves out of its existing manufacturing facility, it will focus on completing a master plan for the existing campus redevelopment.
Coombe said he hopes to incorporate a similar “Gillette World Shaving Headquarters” sign on the new headquarters.
“We’re proud of our history and we’re proud of our place in the community," he told the Boston Globe. "We would love [for] people to know we continue to be there.”
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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).
Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction and community issues, including finance, law and real estate. He has reported for Adweek and the San Diego Daily Transcript and led a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif. He served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and as managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage. At Engineering News-Record, Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure and megaprojects, regulatory developments and business trends across the U.S. and global construction sectors.
email: gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591
