401 Park Drive (née Landmark Center) | Fenway
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
sean99090900
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2024
- Messages
- 265
- Reaction score
- 1,068
Citing fewer customers, higher costs, Fenway’s Time Out Market says it will close later this month - The Boston Globe
The closure comes after a tumultuous six-plus-year stint in the city, as Boston’s largest food hall navigated both the pandemic and its aftermath.
www.bostonglobe.com
bruh I don't think I saw this coming lol, place seemed to be generating a good amount of foot traffic, plus its not like it had empty stalls
Yeah I pulled a few shifts at cussers in early 2021 and I couldn't believe how busy it was considering the circumstances, thats really sad to hear its going awayCiting fewer customers, higher costs, Fenway’s Time Out Market says it will close later this month - The Boston Globe
The closure comes after a tumultuous six-plus-year stint in the city, as Boston’s largest food hall navigated both the pandemic and its aftermath.
bruh I don't think I saw this coming lol, place seemed to be generating a good amount of foot traffic, plus its not like it had empty stalls
PrancingRaven
New member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2025
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 11
With REI leaving, the old theater gutted, and the (reportedly) poor lease-rates in the new construction it seems this whole development is going to be a ghost town. Hopefully the traffic from Star Market moving in will turn things around...
Too bad.Citing fewer customers, higher costs, Fenway’s Time Out Market says it will close later this month - The Boston Globe
The closure comes after a tumultuous six-plus-year stint in the city, as Boston’s largest food hall navigated both the pandemic and its aftermath.
bruh I don't think I saw this coming lol, place seemed to be generating a good amount of foot traffic, plus its not like it had empty stalls
I'm still kind of surprised how much that area has changed. Ten years ago, that corner was surface parking and a sad, dying Best Buy. It got soooo much better. Now losing the theater, REI, and food hall in quick succession.... I hope some good stuff moves in.
RandomWalk
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 3,713
- Reaction score
- 6,500
Is the landlord pulling shenanigans or is this just coincidence?
JumboBuc
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2013
- Messages
- 2,789
- Reaction score
- 1,923
Relevant: the Time Out Market in Chicago is closing on the exact same day:
blockclubchicago.org
This looks to me like more of a Time Out corporate issue than an issue with the space itself. I wouldn't be surprised to see the food hall live on under a new name.
Time Out Market To Close In Fulton Market
The food hall is closing Jan. 23 due to low and inconsistent foot traffic paired with increased operating costs, according to a statement from the parent company.
blockclubchicago.org
This looks to me like more of a Time Out corporate issue than an issue with the space itself. I wouldn't be surprised to see the food hall live on under a new name.
bigpicture7
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2016
- Messages
- 4,043
- Reaction score
- 10,367
I hope it will live on, and that the problems are indeed less local...Relevant: the Time Out Market in Chicago is closing on the exact same day:
Time Out Market To Close In Fulton Market
The food hall is closing Jan. 23 due to low and inconsistent foot traffic paired with increased operating costs, according to a statement from the parent company.
This looks to me like more of a Time Out corporate issue than an issue with the space itself. I wouldn't be surprised to see the food hall live on under a new name.
I do get concerned about some troubling correlations with Alexandria as a landlord, though. There are some patterns in the Kendall Area of ground floor retail hollowing out in spaces where Alexandria is Landlord. Look at the whole One Kendall development: all that's left is Mamaleh's and State Park. It used to have: Friendly Toast, Flat Top Johnny's, Cambridge Brewing, Smokeshop, Bon Me, Blue Room, etc. etc. Further, they took over the former Pegasystems block on First Street, which had the Shabu on Mein restaurant and a Gracenote Coffee shop -- now a blank wall. And the former Facebook building used to have Lily P's, now vacant. Tell me if I'm off base, but this seems to be a trend with Alexandria...
JumboBuc
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2013
- Messages
- 2,789
- Reaction score
- 1,923
In some ways, I could imagine the downturn in the lab market being good for lab building retail. When lab is booming that's the landlord's cash cow, and the retail business is chump change not worth their time. In some situations, it could even be worth converting retail to office use for them.
With lab no longer bringing in the money, landlords may turn their eyes more to retail as a source of revenue and focus on getting those spaces filled.
bigpicture7
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2016
- Messages
- 4,043
- Reaction score
- 10,367
I don't disagree with your logic, but what I am saying is that (in the Kendall area at least), existing ground floor tenants seem to be exiting Alexandria facilities at a greater rate than the other landlords in our present time.
I must emphasize that I don't know there's an issue for sure with them, but it does seem to be a correlation, which all the instances of exits at 401 Park only further adding to.
I do hope I'm wrong, since they have a huge footprint in the area.
RandomWalk
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 3,713
- Reaction score
- 6,500
OKS is just sad now. First, there was the conversion of the Blue Room, FTJs and Beantowne spaces to office use. Then Friendly Toast, CBC, and Smoke Shop left. It doesn’t even appear that they are trying to repopulate the spaces.
It doesn’t bode well for the Landmark Center.
It doesn’t bode well for the Landmark Center.
BronsonShore
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
- Messages
- 512
- Reaction score
- 1,605
As far as I know, Time Out Market was the ONLY place in Boston where you could sit outside with a cocktail (not just beer) for as long as you wanted, without ordering food and without being bothered by waitstaff hoping to turn the table over. That is an absolutely insane thing to say about one of the world's major cities, and this is a huge loss.
From ‘the best of the best,’ to shutting down: The rise and fall of Fenway’s Time Out Market - The Boston Globe
Time Out Market opened as the first of a new wave of food halls in Boston. Six years later it's closing down.
www.bostonglobe.com
On Alexandria:
HenryAlan
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2009
- Messages
- 4,446
- Reaction score
- 5,176
Have to wonder if this is real -- and lots of the comments on Facebook are asking the same question. It sounds better than what TimeOut offers, but the announcement also seems a bit often -- no mention of partnering with the landlord, etc., that you'd typically find in a press release. I'll be happy to be wrong about this.
It got better? That area used to have three practice spaces, Curve of the Earth records, Woolly Mammoth recording studio, and WBCN. Better? If you're talking specifically about this building, then... I guess? I do miss the movie theater.Too bad.
I'm still kind of surprised how much that area has changed. Ten years ago, that corner was surface parking and a sad, dying Best Buy. It got soooo much better. Now losing the theater, REI, and food hall in quick succession.... I hope some good stuff moves in.
Yes, it got better.
Look, I agree the city needs more and better arts spaces. In some cases those spaces have just moved to cheaper cities/neighborhoods. In some cases, we are now lacking. It's a real and complicated problem.
But also, that neighborhood around Brookline and Boylston Streets used to be kind of windswept. There was more surface parking, a strip mall, auto-parts store, car wash, and crumbling one-story buildings only suitable to function as ticket kiosks for Red Sox games. Most of that got replaced with 10+ story buildings with restaurants, retail, residential, offices and a hotel. All of that is on top of the vast improvements to the Landmark Center. That area is far livelier now with pedestrians than it was 10 years ago. It's like night and day. Yes, it absolutely got better.
agree to disagree, but i do concur that the specific former Sears building complex is better now than it was. most of the art spaces have moved to salem/peabody, fall river, quincy, new bedford. boston is less for the loss and i'd take some windswept and crumbling d'aneglo spots and auto parts vendors if that meant that people who did more than count beans for a living could exist in the city.
RandomWalk
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 3,713
- Reaction score
- 6,500
The whole area was frozen for a long time while John Harrington tried desperately to make fetch^WFenway happen.