Seemingly overnight, a new neighborhood is going up along Seaport Boulevard. Piece by piece, floor by floor, one building after another is being cobbled together. More than $1.5 billion worth of apartments, condos, storefronts, and office space is under construction in the Seaport right now, all within the span of a few blocks. Another $850 million in projects is set to break ground soon.

That means a lot of steel, glass, and jobs for many, many construction workers. And when it’s done, there will be thousands more people living and working in a place that, not so long ago by Boston time, was little more than a giant parking lot by the sea.

We spent some time there lately, documenting the work before it’s all finished, and remembering what it used to look like. This is what we saw.

>>See the photo gallery here<<