No More Apartments in the Landmark Center Redevelopment Project

The developer of the Landmark Center redevelopment project in Fenway, Samuels and Associates, announced that they have decided to eliminate the apartment component of the plan. Instead of the apartments, the project will focus more on dedicating more space for office and lab.

More Spaces but No Apartments

Without the apartments, the Landmark Center redevelopment would have 506,000 square feet of space at the corner of Fullerton Street and Brookline Avenue. This available space will be used for new offices and laboratories in the building, which will be built on that particular site. Meanwhile, the center has another 950,000 square feet that currently exists, and it will be renovated to accommodate more offices and labs further.

Aside from those vast areas, there will be yet another 17,000 square feet, which will be used for retail. A new building will be constructed to handle businesses. The standing building in that zone will give another 300,000 square feet of available space, which could be for retail as well. Although there were earlier plans about Boston’s first ever Wegmans, the 300,000 square feet of space will not be used for the grocery store.

Wegmans was originally a part of the retail plans when the proposal was announced, until the signing of the expansion which took place before the end of 2014. However, Samuels and Associates said that it might not materialize due to some physical changes that may need to take place. Whether or not the city will have a 75,000 square foot Wegmans soon, the developer will make an official announcement about it in the near future.

What the Redevelopment Includes

While Wegmans may not be included in the redevelopment of the Landmark Center in Fenway, it still involves a lot of changes and transformation that would make the site more modern. One of the significant changes is renaming the center, which will soon be called 401 Park Drive. What is interesting is that it will remain as a public park, but now it will have 1.1 acres of space.

Initially, the redevelopment was supposed to produce 550 apartments in the location. However, the developer is one of those who dodged apartments and entirely removed them from the project. This is actually the third time something like this happened.

One instance was in the summer when a developer chose not to convert a rental tower into an apartment. This developer had a major project in Boston in which 486 units in the rental tower were supposed to be turned into 118 apartments. Unfortunately, the developer chose to convert them to55 condominium units instead.

Another instance was also in the summer when a developer delayed the construction of an apartment building to 2018. Supposedly, it was a unit replacement of the Garden Garage at West End and should have been wrapped up in 2019.

Going back to Landmark Center in Fenway, the project will also include a food hall, which will span about 25,000 square feet. It will be accessible in the open park area. This food hall has been given a go-signal and will definitely happen as the construction begins. A part of the Time Out media family, Time Out Market Boston will expand to the city in 2019.

The 401 Park Drive

With the Time Out Market Boston already announced and confirmed, the future park will have about 16 spots for dining, along with two bars and a cooking academy. It will also have a retail shop, a patio, plaza, and space for parking.

Phase one of the project will build over two acres of open space, and it will open in mid-2018. As for the second phase, it is still under review. However, the plan is to construct a building with 14 stories.

The building will comprise of 506,000 square feet for lab and office, which will be accessible at the corner of Fullerton Street and Brookline Avenue. There will also be a ground-floor retail space and an office component. This phase is expected to begin in 2019 depending on leasing commitments, which could last for about 18 months.