By Grant Welker
Gillette, which has been selling off parts of its South Boston campus for planned development, is now leaving the site entirely. The 125-year-old company isn’t going far. It announced Tuesday it plans to purchase a planned nine-story, 320,000-square-foot building in Fort Point at 232 A St. The building will be home to its headquarters and innovation center, with manufacturing operations already being shifted to the company’s Andover campus. Gillette called the planned purchase the largest single investment the company has made in Boston: nearly $1 billion. Gillette has operated its head offices out of South Boston for decades, with its logo and “World Shaving Headquarters” sign atop its low-slung building serving as a landmark for drivers on I-93 just south of downtown. Gillette is also working on a master plan for the eventual redevelopment of its 31-acre campus.
The company previously said it planned a new headquarters and innovation center in 2023. It also began construction last year on an expansion of its 150-acre Andover site. That location’s new 200,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility is slated to open later this year, with operations that include blaze and razor production, packaging operations and direct-to-consumer fulfillment. “Transforming our grooming business for the future required that we think creatively about every aspect of our operations,” Gillette’s CEO, Gary Coombe, said in a statement. “After a comprehensive search,” he said, “we are pleased to have found a location that continues our longstanding history in this community, provides the right structure for our Technical Innovation Center, and supports neighborhood development.” The Fort Point building will rise next to Eli Lilly’s research and development center. The site is owned now by Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital. Breakthrough is also developing the One Milestone life sciences complex at the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus in Allston.