Hotel Buckminster Renovation | Brookline Ave & Beacon St | Kenmore Square (Fenway)

JumboBuc

JumboBuc

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Life science developer IQHQ said it closed a deal Tuesday to buy the shuttered Hotel Buckminster, at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street. While IQHQ wouldn’t disclose its plans for the building, the California-based firm only builds lab space, making it likely that the brick Beaux Arts hotel will be the latest in a long list of Boston buildings being converted to accommodate the city’s booming life science industry.
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www.bostonglobe.com

Historic Hotel Buckminster in Kenmore Square is poised to become ... lab space - The Boston Globe

The room where Sport Sullivan and Chick Gandil allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series could be transformed into a drug research lab.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Hopefully the historic hotel can be renovated / restored, and the garage space further down Beacon can be tied into IQHQ's abutting air-rights project. I don't want to see this become another Kenmore Square North.
 
So when we call this building historic, does that mean it has landmark protection? I just did a couple minutes of googling and I didn't get a black and white answer.
 
Is this the parcel where the proposed stalactite building designed by Studio Gang was supposed to go?
 
Czervik.Construction said:
Is this the parcel where the proposed stalactite building designed by Studio Gang was supposed to go?
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No. That one's across the street. The original proposal for One Kenmore included a second tower for the Buckminster as a partnered effort, but dropped it when COVID hit (and the Buckminster's then-owners aren't serious developers, which is why they needed Korff's help in the first place).
 
kz1000ps said:
So when we call this building historic, does that mean it has landmark protection? I just did a couple minutes of googling and I didn't get a black and white answer.
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No, it's not Landmarked

You can see all of the Boston Landmarks on the BLC map here.
 
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Wonder why they're removing hotel space in Kenmore/Fenway given all the demand nearby (and new office/lab complexes)....retrofitting an old hotel for lab can't be easy? Is the building in need of a gut reno?
 
curcuas said:
Wonder why they're removing hotel space in Kenmore/Fenway given all the demand nearby (and new office/lab complexes)....retrofitting an old hotel for lab can't be easy? Is the building in need of a gut reno?
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With current red-hot lease rates, it may be worth it.
 
DwnTwnr said:
No, it's not Landmarked

You can see all of the Boston Landmarks on the BLC map here.
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But it is quite historic. It’s where the 1919 White Sox first met with a Boston gambler and plotted to throw the World Series, for one thing. For another, it was once home to what may have been the most important jazz club in the history of Boston - Louie Freaking Armstrong played here.

Regardless, this sucks. This building is smack in the middle of what has been- and could be again - one of the most energetic centers of Boston’s nightlife. Even with that scene largely gone, this isn’t the place for a lab.
 
Luckily the building is staying, I cant imagine how expensive its going to be to convert a hotel from the 1800s into modern lab space. Its already expensive as hell just to convert modern office space to lab. Sounds like a dumb idea tbh. Id have to imagine updating it to housing would have been much cheaper and still could command huge rents.
 
I wonder if IQHQ’s play is to trade the Buckminster for carte blanche on some other project in Boston.
 
JumboBuc said:
www.bostonglobe.com

Historic Hotel Buckminster in Kenmore Square is poised to become ... lab space - The Boston Globe

The room where Sport Sullivan and Chick Gandil allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series could be transformed into a drug research lab.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Hopefully the historic hotel can be renovated / restored, and the garage space further down Beacon can be tied into IQHQ's abutting air-rights project. I don't want to see this become another Kenmore Square North.
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It is going to be very easy for their numbers to show a reno/restore won't work, considering the already high cost of historic renovations, with the added complication of lab-grade HVAC systems. The fact they aren't stating immediately that they're keeping the building, it doesn't have landmark status, and they said they are going to "work with the community" smell like they're already preparing for a Kenmore Square North Part 2.
 
stefal said:
It is going to be very easy for their numbers to show a reno/restore won't work, considering the already high cost of historic renovations, with the added complication of lab-grade HVAC systems. The fact they aren't stating immediately that they're keeping the building, it doesn't have landmark status, and they said they are going to "work with the community" smell like they're already preparing for a Kenmore Square North Part 2.
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well, maybe this time more than 3 people will come to public planning meetings to loudly voice opposition to this one if they do attempt to take it down. getting pissed and voicing opposition to proposals on A/B is all good fun, but it doesn't *do* anything. emailing is better than nothing, calling even better, letter-writing and signature-gathering even better still, but showing up in person and making developers uncomfortable and tangibly aware of actual angry human beings does the most.
 
Typical aB pessimism. I'm sure they could do an elegant facadectomy so you'd hardly be able to tell this was a lab conversion.

hotelb1.png
 
After walking by this today, I am now extremely worried that we're going to lose this building soon. The owners have completely left it to rot to an almost post-apocalyptic state. Windows have been blown out, light fixtures have separated from the facade, and even the "H" in the "Hotel Buckminster" sign has broken off from the building as it prepares to decapitate an unsuspecting pedestrian below.

I have a sinking feeling that the next report we're going to see about this building is going to contain the words "structurally unsound." The owners/developers should be ashamed.
 
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BronsonShore said:
After walking by this today, I am now extremely worried that we're going to lose this building soon. The owners have completely left it to rot to an almost post-apocalyptic state. Windows have been blown out, light fixtures have separated from the facade, and even the "H" in the "Hotel Buckminster" sign has broken off from the building as it prepares to decapitate an unsuspecting pedestrian below.

I have a sinking feeling that the next report we're going to see about this building is going to contain the words "structurally unsound." The owners/developers should be ashamed.
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The continued Whoopsification of Kenmore Square????????
 
BronsonShore said:
After walking by this today, I am now extremely worried that we're going to lose this building soon. The owners have completely left it to rot to an almost post-apocalyptic state. Windows have been blown out, light fixtures have separated from the facade, and even the "H" in the "Hotel Buckminster" sign has broken off from the building as it prepares to decapitate an unsuspecting pedestrian below.

I have a sinking feeling that the next report we're going to see about this building is going to contain the words "structurally unsound." The owners/developers should be ashamed.
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If the Alexandra Hotel is anything to point to, we could still get decades of this building in its current shape (or worse).

In all seriousness, though - does anyone know if it has landmark or historical protection? If not, is there anyway to get that ball rolling?
 
bakgwailo said:
In all seriousness, though - does anyone know if it has landmark or historical protection? If not, is there anyway to get that ball rolling?
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These questions are generally answered quite quickly by cursory investigations of the BLC page ... as you can see from the map, the property/parcel is nearly enveloped on the east and north by the Bay State Road historic preservation district, and then Fenway Park to the south has landmarked status. But it itself is totally at the mercy of the proverbial wrecking ball!

Also, BLC site maintains the list of all landmark petitions submitted thru last May, and their statuses. Annoyingly it is non-sortable being a static PDF, but still.

Finally, I'm noticing that the tax designation/status of this parcel is very weird

(suspicious?)

Apparently, as a "Condo Main Building" usage, it hasn't been taxable (i.e., commercial) property, in DECADES. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Perhaps someone with some expertise in this realm can make some informed speculation. I sure can't...
 
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