By Thomas Grillo
Banker & Tradesman Reporter

Developers of a proposed Copley Place expansion told a packed crowd Tuesday night they plan to enhance the transit-oriented project with housing, more shops and a dramatic glass-enclosed public space.

“When Copley Place was built in the 1980s, it was a pioneering development with retail, hotel and office, and at the time there was a vision for residential,” said Carl Dieterle, executive vice president of development for Simon Property Group, the mall’s owner. “This project completes that vision by adding housing.”

The development team offered the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods its first glimpse of the project that would add a 47-story condominium tower with 280 units, a glass-enclosed winter garden, 114,000 square feet of new retail space and a 54,000-square-foot expansion of Neiman Marcus, the mall’s anchor tenant.

The BRA’s public review process commenced on Tuesday at the Boston Public Library. Prior to city approval, the developer is required to hold public hearings and consider comments by residents as they devise a final plan.

Questions were raised about the tower’s height, the possible loss of public space in front of Copley Place, shadows cast by the tower and whether the winter garden design fits the neighborhood.