Business

Gillette moves forward with plans to redo its South Boston campus

Plans include transforming the 31-acre commercial property into a mixed-use space.

Gillette World Shaving Headquarters located at 1 Gillette Park. Nathan Klima for The Boston Globe

updated on August 22, 2024

2 minutes to read

P&G Gillette is moving forward with its plans to reshape its current South Boston manufacturing campus into a mixed-use, publicly accessible space.

The company filed its Letter of Intent with the City of Boston’s Planning Department on Wednesday. It plans to redevelop the 31-acre site between the South Boston and Fort Point neighborhoods.

Plans include adding a waterfront park open to the public and residential, lab, office, and retail areas to the site.

The transformation will significantly change what is now primarily a commercial and engineering space for Gillette, which is isolated from nearby neighborhoods.

Gillette will maintain its headquarters and technical innovation center in South Boston. However, the company will move its manufacturing operations to a 150-acre campus in Andover and plans to build a new manufacturing center at the site where it already operates.

“This is an important moment for our business and for Boston,” Kara Buckley, vice president of community affairs at Gillette, said in a statement. “Our early conversations with the community have been helpful in guiding us; we hope to develop a project that will address some of Boston’s most critical needs — from resiliency and open space to housing and economic opportunity — reflecting both citywide priorities and the interests of the South Boston community.”

In the fall of 2023, the company hosted a virtual public meeting to share early ideas and hear residents’ thoughts.

Beginning in September, Gillette will host on-site tours and multiple meetings to share planning concepts and solicit feedback.

According to Tom Ready, the president of the Fort Point Neighborhood Association, in an email to Boston.com, the last conversation the association had with the P&G team was last January.

While the association remains concerned about the loss of manufacturing jobs in the neighborhood, they also recognize the opportunity the plans present.

“We look forward to re-engaging with P&G Gillette, the City and the State in an inclusive process that will truly transform our area of South Boston,” Ready wrote. “This transformation should provide not only replacement employment opportunities but also housing, large parks, and meaningful civic spaces.”

The South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation did not immediately respond for comment on the plans.

Gillette, which manufactures shaving and body products, has used the South Boston site for product manufacturing for over 100 years. The facility will be the base for 750 employees in leadership, research and development, and engineering roles.

The global company P&G acquired Gillette in 2005, which put the company’s future in the unknown.

However, the changes outlined in the plans for the city result from P&G’s assessment of the Massachusetts facilities, which began in 2019.

“It is important to us that Gillette serves as a steward for the future of the place we have called our home for more than a century,” Buckley said. “This is a generational opportunity to strengthen Gillette’s business and establish a foundation for continued success as a proud South Boston-based company.”