Fan Pier ground-breaking set for Vertex

By Globe Staff

A ground-breaking project for the new headquarters of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. at Fan Pier has been scheduled for Wednesday, said the project’s developer, the Fallon Company.

Located on the South Boston Waterfront, Fan Pier has just one building now, but plans call for an eight-building complex that would include offices, residences, stores, and hotel rooms, in addition to parks and a marina that are already built, according to a recent Globe story. Vertex says it will lease 1.1 million square feet of office and lab space over the next 15 years in two of those buildings.

Cambridge-based Vertex got regulatory approval in May for a hepatitis C treatment that it believes could be a blockbuster drug.

That approval cleared the way for Vertex to move ahead on its plan to move its headquarters from Cambridge to the South Boston Waterfront. According to the Fallon Company’s media advisory, Vertex employs about 1,300 people in Massachusetts.

Vertex’s move qualifies as one of the biggest real estate deals in Boston’s history, and it is expected to help jump-start the economic turnaround of the South Boston Waterfront.

Among those expected to be on hand for Wednesday’s ceremony are Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Fallon Company president and chief executive Joseph Fallon, Fallon Co. said.