1400 Boylston Street | Star Market & Gulf | Fenway

dshoost88

dshoost88

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It's about time for this to have its own thread.

Bergeron37 said:
Scratch that I guess it was $17M, closed yesterday.
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JumboBuc said:
Indeed, Star Market bought the gas station property (1420 Boylston St) from Elias Enterprises for $16,925,000, closing yesterday. You can see the details here - search for "Elias" and sort by date.

Star Market now owns the "gas station parcel" as well as the parking lots south and east of it, plus their building. I've been confused by the timeline here -- why shut down the Gulf and Dunkin when any future development is still years away -- but I think it all makes a bit more sense if Star Market itself is the developer, not a third party.

Even though no plans have been made public, would it make sense to move all of this 1420 Boylston St talk off into its own thread (maybe Star Market (former Gulf) parcel | 1420 Boylston Street | Fenway)? It's been clogging up this "Skanska Fenway Project" thread for weeks now... Mods, any opinions?
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JumboBuc said:
A development would include the Star Market "south lot" (the one at the corner of Park Dr and Peterborough) but likely not the one on Boylston. This is atleast what the rumors are saying, and it makes sense. There's an alley separating the Gulf site and the Star Market lot on Boylston.

The store and parking lot on Boylston would then go later in a second phase.
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My $0.02: I think if Star Market does do a grocery store fronting Park Drive that they hopefully think of a way to do it below ground or a floor above to allow for ground floor retail facing Park Drive & the Fens. Also, I imagine this is a great spot for LMA-related office space. Not a bad site for a hotel either, though.
 
dshoost88 said:
My $0.02: I think if Star Market does do a grocery store fronting Park Drive that they hopefully think of a way to do it below ground or a floor above to allow for ground floor retail facing Park Drive & the Fens. Also, I imagine this is a great spot for LMA-related office space. Not a bad site for a hotel either, though.
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Seems unlikely that Star Market would shortchange its own store by not giving it the ground-floor space. JumboBuc's comments make sense, though. The new Star logically would need to be built off-site in order for the old one to stay open through construction.
 
Equilibria said:
Seems unlikely that Star Market would shortchange its own store by not giving it the ground-floor space. JumboBuc's comments make sense, though. The new Star logically would need to be built off-site in order for the old one to stay open through construction.
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Interesting you mention this - Oddly enough, Star Market has indeed done a grocery store/hotel combo before, with integral parking...and the grocery store on the second level, here. Not sayin' its the best arrangement, but in a high-demand area (and high hotel-demand area) it could happen again.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Interesting you mention this - Oddly enough, Star Market has indeed done a grocery store/hotel combo before, with integral parking...and the grocery store on the second level, here. Not sayin' its the best arrangement, but in a high-demand area (and high hotel-demand area) it could happen again.
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Fair, but I don't think anyone wants a repeat of the ground floor of that building. Also, Star Market may have been willing to do second floor there because they could get a level entry to the parking garage. Parking here would be either above or below the store.
 
We'd probably see 10-15 floors on the northern Boylston half of this lot and 5-7 floors on the southern Peterborough half. Those are the prevailing building and zoning heights on the two streets (Pierce non-withstanding), and they seem appropriate here.

Underground parking could be accessed by the alley that runs along the eastern edge of the site. If Star Market is to move over here, they'd need a 2 (or 3?) story retail podium, taking into account the lobbies and elevators/stairs. The current Star Market includes a Starbucks and full liquor section and is super cramped. I'm guessing residential above, with the lower roof on the Peterborough side a roof deck.

And if this thread is now a thing (since the sale is finalized and rumors have thus been verified), maybe a mod could move the many dozens of posts this parcel has received over in the "Skanska Fenway Project" thread to here? Also, props to WestFens, whose tips kicked this whole discussion off.
 
odurandina said:
837' or bust.
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This project will not being going high like The Pierce. The Pierce is in one of two gateway sites in the Fenway zoning district where greater height is permitted. 2 Charlesgate is in the other. This site is not in a gateway area and the neighborhood will fight it tooth and nail if they propose anything approaching the height of The Pierce here.
 
I've always found it odd that the current Star has a Kilmarnock St address. You'd think they'd have changed it to Boylston already since it's more recognizable?
 
JumboBuc said:
We'd probably see 10-15 floors on the northern Boylston half of this lot and 5-7 floors on the southern Peterborough half. Those are the prevailing building and zoning heights on the two streets (Pierce non-withstanding), and they seem appropriate here.

Underground parking could be accessed by the alley that runs along the eastern edge of the site. If Star Market is to move over here, they'd need a 2 (or 3?) story retail podium, taking into account the lobbies and elevators/stairs. The current Star Market includes a Starbucks and full liquor section and is super cramped. I'm guessing residential above, with the lower roof on the Peterborough side a roof deck.

And if this thread is now a thing (since the sale is finalized and rumors have thus been verified), maybe a mod could move the many dozens of posts this parcel has received over in the "Skanska Fenway Project" thread to here? Also, props to WestFens, whose tips kicked this whole discussion off.
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Thanks Jumbo - I appreciate the nod
 
My (completely uneducated) guess for this site is 270'. Tallest building on that side of Boylston in Fenway, but no place close to the Pierce across the street. It would continue to improve the canyon anyway.
 
Sam Kennedy wants to turn Fenway into Wrigleyville. Hmmmmm...
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2017/02/22/red-sox-fenwayville-development/

“I think you’ll see some growth and development in Fenway, including, possibly, on the parcels that we own,” said Kennedy, a Brookline native. “We’re looking at different options. But there are some great developers that have already invested literally billions of dollars into the Fenway neighborhood in the last decade. I think we’ll probably see what’s appropriate, the appropriate level of development for us.”

Could this mean a sort of micro-neighborhood comprised of bars, restaurants, and vendors, not unlike the one surrounding Chicago’s Wrigley Field—Fenwayville, perhaps? Kennedy said that while the team has no specific plans just yet, he doesn’t anticipate a design scheme that involves “massive parking structures.”
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I don't think you guys are going to get any of this. Star Market is in the grocery business -- not the development business. They may build a larger grocery store -- but they are not going to go taller, add a hotel, residences, or offices.
 
akmags said:
I don't think you guys are going to get any of this. Star Market is in the grocery business -- not the development business. They may build a larger grocery store -- but they are not going to go taller, add a hotel, residences, or offices.
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That's an outdated statement. Grocery stores are increasingly developing their urban locations with mixed-use. See Allston Landing for a simultaneous local example...
 
I don't trust Star Market to develop a decent supermarket (see the relatively new Chestnut Hill location as Exhibit A) let alone an entire mixed-use development. Hopefully they bring on an experience partner for the non-supermarket portions of the development.
 
Supermarkets gobble up a huge amount of space - I might prefer to see it in the basement (a la Roche Bros. in DTX)...why waste the space on something that wouldn't benefit from the windows as much as something else? Usually supermarket walls are lined with freezer cases, refrigerators anyway, shelves...no reason the shopping experience would change much if that were underground. I actually kinda like the feel that the DTX Roch Bros. has.
 
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