A Boston developer has filed plans with the Boston Redevelopment Authority on Monday to replace the Landmark Center's 1,400 car parking garage with offices, housing and the Hub's first Wegmans.
Samuels & Associates has proposed a $500 million expanded Landmark Center that would include three new buildings, ranging from 10 to 12 stories above a two-story retail podium, with 550 residential units. Wegmans will occupy 75,000 square feet, additional office space will total 15,000 square feet and there will be another 110,000 square feet of retail, much of it along Brookline Avenue. Housing will be located in three buildings.
"The Landmark Center that Steve Samuels is proposing is fascinating and I think Wegmans will be a great addition to the city," said Peter Meade, BRA director. "It will make every other supermarket in our region better because they will need to compete with Wegmans."
The proposed project creates 2.2 acres of open space, representing a nearly 100 percent increase in parks in the heart of the Fenway. Located at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Kilmarnock Street, the new open space will include a park and a plaza.
Wegmans, a family-owned grocer with one store in Northborough and another under construction in Chestnut Hill, will have the look and feel of a European, open-air market. Wegmans have legions of fans, many who are from upstate New York, where the chain was founded. The stores offer fresh produce, hundreds of imported cheeses, artisan breads, baked goods and prepared foods.
Samuels bought the 1 million-square-foot Landmark Center building in 2011 for $453 million. The company has a history of winning over neighborhood activists in the Fenway. In 2004, they broke ground on the $200 million Trilogy project. The one-million-square-foot, mixed-use development on 2.2 acres brought 576 units of luxury apartments, 42,000 square of retail space and underground parking. They followed that with 1330 Boylston Street, are under construction with the Van Ness on-spec office building and are working on the Point, a 22-story residential tower that would contain 320 residences on the triangular lot occupied by a D'Angelo sub shop.
"The expansion of Landmark assures the continued residential vibrancy of the neighborhood, supports its growth as a commercial center and introduces Wegmans as another amenity that is easily accessible to the entire city via the MBTA," said Steve Samuels, chairman of Samuels & Associates, in a statement. "This project allows us to continue to knit together the neighborhood with the extension of a continuous, pedestrian friendly streetscape and add new open space."
Courtesy of Thomas Grillo
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2013/10/samuels-to-expand-landmark-center.html?page=2