IQHQ Buys Historic Kenmore Hotel For $42.5M In Latest Area Lab Play
Life sciences REIT IQHQ acquired The Hotel Buckminster in Kenmore Square for $42.5M, adding a historic property to its growing Fenway portfolio of lab projects.
The hotel, which closed in March 2020, sits at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street near several other IQHQ-owned properties. The property was sold by the Buckminster Hotel Corp., according to Suffolk County land records. IQHQ did not go into detail on its plans for the hotel.
“The Buckminster represents an opportunity to enhance IQHQ’s vision to develop a vibrant life science district that runs from Kenmore Square through the Fenway to the premier research, academic and medical institutes in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area,” IQHQ Chief Development Officer John Bonanno said in a statement.
The former hotel is close to IQHQ and Meredith Management Corp.'s billion-dollar Fenway Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike, which will include more than 960K SF of life sciences space and two towers on a 90K SF deck over the MassPike. That project broke ground in April and is expected to deliver in 2025. IQHQ is also working on a 285K SF life sciences project across 109 Brookline Ave. and 20 Overland St.
The Kenmore neighborhood, specifically the area west of Fenway Park, is bustling with lab developments, including Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Samuels & Associates’ $1.5B undertaking at 401 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Ave., around the prominent Landmark Center. Related’s 326K SF office and life sciences project One Kenmore Square sits across the intersection from The Buckminster.
The hotel was built in 1897 and is famous for hosting the first network radio broadcast and for allegedly serving as the origin point of the 1919 World Series scandal, The Boston Globe reported. Over the building's storied history, it served as one of the city's most upscale establishments, a rumored Italian prisoner of war camp, a jazz club, and a dormitory for the former Grahm Junior College.
UPDATE, NOV. 5, 12:40 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with information from land records.
