Residential Out, Office And Lab In At The Building Formerly Known As Landmark
The latest plan for a Fenway mixed-use redevelopment reflects the neighborhood’s raised profile in Boston’s office and life science sphere.
Samuels & Associates and JP Morgan Asset Management submitted updated plans for the Landmark Center, now dubbed 401 Park.
Original plans for 600 residential units and a retail podium that was to feature a Wegmans grocery store have been eliminated. In their place is a 14-story, 506K SF office and lab building at Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street. The developer will update the original Landmark building’s more than 950K SF for office and labs while retaining 300K SF for retail, according to plan changes filed with the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
“Bringing office and lab space to this site not only meets a clear demand for such space … but it also adds to the vitality of the neighborhood,” J.P. Morgan Asset Management Executive Director Erik Grabowski said in a prepared statement. “The office tenants in Van Ness and 401 Park will add to the vibrant daytime activity at shops and restaurants in the Fenway.”
The developer built the nearby Van Ness mixed-use building on spec, and it was fully leased one year after it opened in summer 2015. It welcomed Decibel, Fenway’s first lab and biotech tenant, in May. The Landmark building has also attracted a wave of startups that include the Google-backed Toast, which announced plans to expand within the building in May.
Samuels & Associates is still moving ahead with plans for a 1.1-acre open space on the property and a destination food hall that will take the space previously occupied by a Best Buy. Pending BPDA approval, the developer plans to begin the expansion in mid-2018 and take 24 months. When complete, 401 Park will contain nearly 1.5M SF of retail and office/lab space.
