401 Park

Time Out Market Fenway Now Open

The 25,000 square foot Time Out Market is now open as part of the revamp on The Landmark Center in Fenway. The food hall, located in the former Best Buy location features 15 eateries by local chefs and 2 full-service bars. The next phase of the Landmark Center renovation call, now under review, would construct a new 14-story, 506,000-square-foot office and lab building at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street with 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and renovate Landmark Center’s existing 978,200-square-foot office and retail component. 

Samuels shifts focus of Landmark Center redevelopment to offices from residential, renames project 401 Park

Seeking to capitalize upon the Fenway neighborhood’s emergence as a premier office destination, Samuels & Associates proposes to refocus its’ redevelopment plans for Landmark Center, scrapping plans for an addition containing 550 apartments with a 110,000-square-foot retail podium and instead constructing a 506,000-square-foot building featuring office space and 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Strong demand for office space at the existing Landmark Center, as well as Samuels’ recently completed 237,000-square-foot Van Ness office building, which has attracted technology, data analytics and lab tenants, prompted Samuels to revise the previously approved project plans.

Another factor in the switch to an office focus was Samuels’ decision to preserve Landmark Center’s 1,500-space above-grade parking structure, citing the growing scarcity of parking in the Fenway neighborhood and the high costs of constructing an underground garage. Accordingly, a 110,000-square-foot retail podium that would have been located at the base of the previously approved residential building, which would have replaced the above-grade garage and featured a Wegmans supermarket, has also been eliminated. As part of the currently proposed project, Landmark Center’s existing 978,200-square-foot office and retail component would also be renovated.

Phase One of the Landmark Center redevelopment project, which Samuels has renamed 401 Park, is currently underway with full completion expected in Spring 2019. Phase One will include construction of a new 1.1-acre open space along Park Drive, which is expected to open in mid-2018, as well as creation of new open spaces and public realm improvements throughout the Landmark Center site and a destination food hall featuring local chefs within the existing building.

Pending approval by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), who is now reviewing Samuels’ revised proposal, construction of Phase Two, which would feature the new 506,000-square-foot office building, would commence in 2019 contingent upon leasing activity. “Bringing office and lab space to [401 Park] not only meets a clear demand for such space – as evidenced by the success of Van Ness and the early stage tech and creative economy companies that are growing out of the space at [startup incubator Hatch Fenway, located at Landmark Center] – but it also adds to the vitality of the neighborhood,” said Erik Grabowski, executive director of 401 Park development partner J.P. Morgan Asset Management, in a prepared statement. The latest 401 Park project information, including renderings, is posted above.

New Fenway green space at Landmark Center moving forward, development plan changes anticipated

Developer Samuels & Associates has revealed a new rendering of the upcoming public green space that will replace the current Landmark Center parking lot in the Fenway; this green space will be the first phase of the approved $650 million Landmark Center Expansion development. This rendering is posted above. Construction of the 1-acre green space, which will include a lawn, walking paths, trees and outdoor seating, is anticipated to commence this summer, with completion expected by next summer.

Within the next couple of months, Samuels is expected to reveal proposed changes to the approved Landmark Center Expansion development plan; these changes are reportedly being made primarily in response to changing market conditions since the project's approval in 2014. "There are some physical changes to the building that are changing how we do the retail,” said Samuels Principal Peter Sougarides in an interview with the Boston Herald. Likewise, plans for a 75,000 square foot Wegmans grocery store included in the 2014 development plan may be revised. "We're still working though that," Sougarides told the Herald.