This weekend's nor'easter brought yet another reminder of the risk of flooding to properties along Boston's waterfront.

While the damage was ultimately minimal, severe storms and flooding are becoming more common around the world, and Boston leaders are pushing to better prepare the city's waterfront.

On Wednesday, Mayor Michelle Wu joined city officials and business leaders at the ribbon-cutting of a resiliency project at the Harbor Towers condo complex on the Boston Harbor, part of the city's Deployables Day to raise awareness of waterfront flooding.

Officials also held training exercises, detailed their resiliency plans and called on private landlords to invest in more resiliency measures.

“We need building owners and developers to take long-term action,” Boston Chief Climate Officer Brian Swett said.

Since starting Deployables Day in 2024, the city has invested in deployables, or large temporary flood barriers, for its largest public spaces. As part of the program, 11 private properties have also invested in resiliency planning, including Harbor Towers, Wu said.

“It just felt so affirming that our community is stepping up,” Wu said Wednesday. “Private, public, nonprofit, everyone together, rolling up our sleeves. What can we do and how can we get it done now?”

The Harbor Towers Board of Trustees invested $20M into resiliency efforts, including permanent full-height glass flood barriers and deployable stop logs on the bottom floor.

“We had pretty universal buy-in that this was the right thing to do,” Harbor Towers Condo Board of Trustees Chairman Norm Meisner said. 

The project was completed in 18 months, with the board bringing on Weston & Sampson Engineers to advise on the design and Commodore Builders as the general contractor.

The last couple of large storms, most notably a set of winter storms that brought significant flooding to Boston’s waterfront in 2018, were a wake-up call for the condo association.

“We wanted to make sure we could protect the property within a few hours' notice,” Meisner said.

The towers were designed in 1970 by I.M. Pei & Partners. They were first a rental property before being converted into condominiums in the 1980s, Meisner said.

Deployables Day is one of many efforts the city has launched to examine and invest in its waterfront resilience.

In July, Wu and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rolled out a draft plan to protect the city from rising sea levels and extreme weather. The proposed plan outlines up to $10B in infrastructure investments to protect the city’s 47-mile waterfront, and it is intended to avoid up to $41B in future flood damage.

The USACE's study found that more than 40% of Boston residents live in areas that are at risk of coastal flooding. The Harbor Towers residents sit on the second-lowest level in the city behind the Long Wharf, Meisner said. 

The study recommended 20 infrastructure projects across East Boston, Charlestown, downtown Boston, South Boston and Dorchester. Because of the study, the city will qualify for federal funding to cover up to 65% of the project costs.

Between 2017 and 2022, the city also completed its own Coastal Resilience Plans for Boston's five coastal neighborhoods: Charlestown, Dorchester, Downtown/North End, East Boston and South Boston.

Though the Harbor Towers project marks the largest resilience investment made by a condo association across the city, other large property owners are also beginning to take action as flood risks only get higher along the city’s waterfront.

Of the coastal resiliency projects in the works, several are being spearheaded by private developers, including Flatley Cos.’ Schrafft’s Center Waterfront project, part of the company’s 1M SF master-planned project at 425 Medford St.

Other developments in the works include the Tobia Family and Redgate’s 1141 Bennington St. in East Boston, a 220-unit rental project next to the Belle Island Marsh Reservation.

Following the 2018 winter storms, which brought high tide just 4 inches from the Boston Children's Museum’s plaza, the museum has begun a multiphase resiliency plan.

In August, it broke ground on the first phase, which would begin to waterproof its historic brick exterior along Sleeper Street at the back of the museum. The museum has raised more than $15M for the project.

"For me, it's super emotional and personal," Wu said about protecting the waterfront. "Why do we care about climate change? I want my kids to be able to live and enjoy this city."