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Work finally starts on $260 million Seaport condo tower

A rendering of the pool deck to be built at the St. Regis Residences tower in the Seaport.Cronin Development

One of the Seaport’s swankiest, and at times most fought-over, condominium buildings celebrated its groundbreaking Monday.

The St. Regis Residences, as the 22-story tower that will replace two waterfront bars will be known, is launching construction at 150 Seaport Blvd. The $260 million building will include 114 high-end condos with a full suite of services — from butler service to a golf simulator — branded and managed by the famed Manhattan luxury hotel.

The glass-paneled tower, being built by Cronin Development, is due to open in 2020. It took almost three years to get to this point, mostly because of a lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation, which charged that the project created too little waterfront public space at its prime, but tiny, site along Seaport Boulevard

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Cronin and CLF settled that lawsuit in January, with the company agreeing to design tweaks and $13.1 million in funding for parks and other needs. That agreement cleared the way for construction to begin this fall. City officials also sold to Cronin a piece of sidewalk key to the project for $2 million, after critics raised questions about the developer’s initial offer of $55,000.

The tower is the latest in a line of luxury condos going up along the Seaport waterfront, but the developers say they aimed to make sure the design of the St. Regis Residences will stand out. The building’s swooping, sail-like facade is designed to evoke the area’s nautical heritage, and will be the final major work of famed Boston architect Howard Elkus, who died last year at age 78.


Tim Logan can be reached at tim.logan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @bytimlogan.