 At the time, the area surrounding the project was a warehouse district with derelict abandoned spaces and many surface parking lots.The Harbor Towers apartment complex was completed in 1971 by the Berenson Corporation, as an affordable housing option near Boston's financial district.The towers are well known in the architectural community, having been designed by Henry N. Cobb, who also designed Boston's John Hancock Tower and collaborated with Pei on Boston's City Hall Plaza, of I.M.