Proctor & Gamble told the city yesterday it will soon file detailed plans for turning World Shaving Headquarters along Fort Point Channel into a new neighborhood as it moves its manufacturing to Andover over the next few years.
In a "letter of intent" to the Boston Planning Department, the company promises the best a development can be, to "transform the existing industrial-oriented uses into a vibrant mixed-use community," one that will include more than nine acres of housing and some 15 acres of publicly accessible greenspace and parks - which will be designed to protect both the site and the surrounding area from raging, rising seas - all combined into "a precedent-setting climate-resilient development that supports the City of Boston's environmental goals, includes green infrastructure to address district stormwater concerns and promotes coastal resilience by protecting the project area and the neighborhoods beyond."
Fort Point Channel is one of Boston's top coastal-flooding concerns, because during an intense storm with higher seas, it could act as a funnel for floodwaters to ravage large swaths of South Boston and Dorchester - the channel is a remnant of what was once a much larger body of water called South Bay.
Because of the project's size, the company says it will file a formal request with the planning department to throw out the land's current manufacturing zoning and craft a custom "master plan" to allow for the new development. In addition to the city, state environmental officials will also get to weigh in, both because of the land's location on the channel and because parts of the site are filled-in former tidelands - which remain under state oversight.