City planners OK several development projects

Globe Staff

Greenway-specific planning guidelines and the proposed expansion of Liberty Mutual's Boston headquarters were among the projects approved last evening by city planners, the office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced.

The board of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city's planning agency, adopted new use and development guidelines for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. General goals call for lively parks and careful development in the area. To read a Globe story from Tuesday's paper outlining those guidelines, please click here.

The BRA's board also approved plans for a new $300 million Back Bay office building as part of Liberty Mutual’s expansion of its Boston headquarters. The project will create a new 590,000 square foot, 22-story office building located at 157 Berkeley St., Menino's office said in a press release.

Another board approval was given to the Waterside Place project, which will bring a new 21-story, 376,300 square foot development with residential, office and retail uses to the city’s Innovation District within the South Boston Waterfront, Menino's office said.

Also getting the green light was a $125 million hotel project proposed for the South End. Plans call for a 408-room hotel to be built on a vacant parking lot at 275 Albany St., the mayor's office said.

The BRA's board also approved a new $16-million rental housing project for Roxbury. Known as the Dudley Greenville Project, it includes the construction of a new mixed use facility in two buildings with the 43 rental units as well as approximately 3,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. All of the rental units will be affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of area median income. Of the 43, nine will be set aside as tenant-based Section 8 units, Menino's office said.