401 Park Drive (née Landmark Center) | Fenway

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Big News:

Samuels + Alexandria are planning "a roughly 400,000-square-foot office building" where Bed, Bath & Beyond is now, and Star Market is going to move there from it's current location on Boylston. Then, Samuels will redevelop the current Star Market site.

Star Market gets a store about twice the size of its current one and Samuels gets two full acres of Fenway terra firma to develop.
 
Big News:

Samuels + Alexandria are planning "a roughly 400,000-square-foot office building" where Bed, Bath & Beyond is now, and Star Market is going to move there from it's current location on Boylston. Then, Samuels will redevelop the current Star Market site.

Star Market gets a store about twice the size of its current one and Samuels gets two full acres of Fenway terra firma to develop.

If its Alexandria, then it's almost definitely a lab facility, not straight-up offices...
Nonetheless, this is all good news, especially about redeveloping the existing Star site.
 
If its Alexandria, then it's almost definitely a lab facility, not straight-up offices...
Nonetheless, this is all good news, especially about redeveloping the existing Star site.

In essence, this trades the abandoned residential component of 401 Park for a potential residential development at the Star Market, with the new information that Alexandria is planning to propose another lab tower on the Bed Bath & Beyond footprint, which isn't surprising (and also isn't much of a vote of confidence in Bed Bath & Beyond staying in business).

I'm surprised that Star Market would agree to be tucked into the corner like that, but on the plus side it's right at the Green Line entrance. I'm surprised they didn't flip the grocery store into the inevitably-soon-to-be-abandoned Regal, which has Brookline Ave frontage.
 
In essence, this trades the abandoned residential component of 401 Park for a potential residential development at the Star Market, with the new information that Alexandria is planning to propose another lab tower on the Bed Bath & Beyond footprint, which isn't surprising (and also isn't much of a vote of confidence in Bed Bath & Beyond staying in business).

I'm surprised that Star Market would agree to be tucked into the corner like that, but on the plus side it's right at the Green Line entrance. I'm surprised they didn't flip the grocery store into the inevitably-soon-to-be-abandoned Regal, which has Brookline Ave frontage.
With the currently UC office/lab building, how much of Regal is even left? I don't think there's any way you could fit a 50k sf grocery store there in a way that would work. Although I could definitely see them including an entrance to Star and perhaps a smaller grab-and-go section on Brookline Ave, with a connection to the larger store back by the GL tracks.

The current Star Market parcels are big enough to fit multiple residential developments, not just one. That two acres covers the grocery store, the grocery store's parking lot, the abandoned Gulf station, and the back lot at Peterborough and Park. The Boylston St frontage of that is longer everything from Citizen to Tatte (including the Harlo, Fenway Health, and 1330 Boylston bulidings), plus room for another Peterborough midrise in the back. The "corner" spot where BBB is now is better suited to a grocery store with big box-like floorplates, while the Boylston frontage is suited to be divided up into as many as 10 retail spaces (the block E of it has 3 lobbies plus 9 retail spaces: Citizen, Regina, Pavement, Basho, Handle Bar, Fenway Pharmacy, CAVA, Oath, Tatte).
 
One thing that I hadn't fully appreciated from the renders but is obvious now that steel is going up is how far back this building is set from Brookline Ave. I guess I just assumed this building would front the street like its predecessor did, but it's much more set back than that.

There will be a sizeable plaza (think 888 Boylston) at the corner of Brookline and Fullerton, and then the sidewalk will pinch back at the remaining Regal Fenway frontage. Very atypical for the neighborhood.

This shot from the NPC shows it well:
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