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Fenway Star Market to jump across Boylston to new Landmark Center location
By adamg on Thu, 03/25/2021 - 10:23am
The Boston Sun reports the redeveloper of Landmark Center, now redubbed 401 Park, will be making 50,000 square feet of space available for Star Market - space once proposed for a Wegmans.
As part of the deal, 401 Park owner Samuels & Associates will buy the current Star Market proerty - which also includes the shuttered gas station next door. Whatever would a developer do with a largeish piece of land on a street that has been transformed from a series of parking lots, low-rise warehouses and fast-food joints into a series of mixed-use buildings?
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Comments
This is a good thing.
This is a good thing. I visited that Star two weeks ago and it's still straight out the '70s and not in a good way. I'm sure that property will fetch big money too. And anyone who hasn't been down there for a couple of years is in for a shock.
lol a few years
try yearly.. I only go down there to the Harvard Vanguard once a year to see a specialist or that rare trip to the Fenway Target. I'm amazed how much it changes.. so fast.
and yeah.. that Star Property will make $$$$. Its the last piece of the corner that was still in use. Gas Station on the corner of Park Drive closed eons ago... and the rest are parking lots.
Parking lots
I can't see those staying much longer. Are they being redeveloped as part of the same project as where the Star Market now is?
Star
I would assume the one *next* to Star is owned by Star (since the lot signs say "Parking while shopping at Star") so that is apart of the deal.
I HIGHLY doubt the one on park drive adjacent to the closed gas station will not be included. Everything else is gone.. it would be the last lot left on that side.
The lot on Park Drive also
The lot on Park Drive also says Star Market Parking.
And who knew that driveway heading down to it was actually Private Alley 931? The alley numbering system continues out that way, but there was no way of knowing until Google Maps since there are no signs.
interesting decision not to develop the site themselves
Since Star bought the gas station site
(https://www.universalhub.com/2017/star-market-parent-snaps-gas-station-n...)
I thought they might develop the entire site with a partner and put a new Star as part of the development just like Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. and New England Development are talking about doing in Allston. But I guess selling the property and moving across the street is less risky.
Whoosh
I hate when I forget stuff that is reported here LoL
I also think Star's parent (the new safeway-albertson's-cerberus) isnt all that interested in a big scale project like S&S & Allston. I have a feeling they have alot of debt..
Stop & Shop on the other hand.. well their parent.. Ahold USA has gone thru strides to save $, yet modernize or move almost all their stores. This also with combing some operations with their GIANT division... pretty much has lightened their load a bit. Enough they can think about new stores & renovating existing ones.
Shaw's... they just change the signage lol
one store Stop & Shop hasn't modernized
is Stop & Shop #1, on Harvard Street in Brookline (just outside Coolidge Corner). Doesn't have a lot of bells & whistles found in more modern supermarkets but it does have a lot of parking
that s & s
the stop & shop in Brookline might be the most depressing grocery store i have ever been to. i feel like every time i went there every 5th light bulb was burnt out and the shelves looked like a hurricane had just gone through the store.
I like outdated supermarkets.
I like outdated supermarkets. I hope I have a chance to get there before it's gone.
Star Beacon
I hope you get over to Star Market on Beacon Street in Somerville. A true 60s relic.
Fenway is old.. but it got a Shaw's makeover in the early 2000s when the idea was to phase out the Star brand in popular locations (i.e. fenway, porter, twin city, etc).
The Star on Beacon in Somerville hasn't really had a makeover... ever. Yeah some new signage/registers but most of the store is pretty much as it was decades ago.
Yup, the Beacon Street
Yup, the Beacon Street Somerville Star is at the top of my list once I start in-person shopping again.
You didn’t visit you’re lying
You didn’t visit you’re lying, it was recently renovated within the last five years
About Time
That Fenway Star Market is set up so strangely, with all kinds of nooks and crannies like somebody's house was hastily converted into a supermarket. It makes it difficult to find things. Nooks and crannies make for interesting antique shops, but not so much for supermarkets when one wants to be in and out as fast as possible.
oh man
This is a Star Market thing I swear
Ever shop at the, now closed, Kendall Square Star Market. You know the one hidden in a parking garage on a side street? It's like they took whatever usable space, connected it all together, and had Star move in. Store layout wasn't a box shape at all. And it had the strangest things.. like a column in the middle of an aisle or some product was in a corner that you could only get to from one area. It was bizarre.
Unlike the Star Prudential Center. And I mean the old one that was in the bottom floor of the 800 Boylston street entrance (before the Mandarin Existed). It was very deep (long). I was only in it a handful of times but I swear it only had five aisles... very long ones. But only four or five.
Not that its replacement is any better on Ring Road. Still columns in strange areas, and a staircase to the booze area?!? Also still wondering why oh why Shaw's didn't sell the air rights while building the store.
Hidden Star Market
I liked that hidden Star Market near Kendall. It was so surreal to go up the escalator and find a full fledged supermarket in the middle of nothing. Even the street it was on barely existed. It seems mostly only MIT students knew about it and as a rule I don't think they buy many groceries, so it was never crowded.
The few times
The few times I went in there, I was living on Columbia and it was easier than trekking to Twin City.
It was NEVER busy. I see why Shaw's closed it..
That Central Square, One
That Central Square, One Kendall Square is brothers market
well
One Kendall/Brothers is new. I remember that being remodeled (exterior) in 2005 and it was an office space.
I admit that "central square" one you mean is the one I am talking about off Mass Ave on Green Street.
Apparently its now Takeda Pharmaceuticals.. but if you click on previous street view images, you can see it was a Star Market.
Price?
The gas station sold for $17 million so you got to think they will pay a lot more for the Star.
Wegmans
Why didn’t Wegmans work out? Would be amazing to have one inside the city
Amazing for some people, depending on the format. I like
the big suburban Wegmanses like the one in Burlington, huge and full of great fresh groceries at nice prices (plus a good wine/beer/spirits section). The compact one in Chestnut Hill has a much greater emphasis on prepared and processed foods, far less interesting to me.
C'mon
The plural is clearly Wegmen
Wegpeople.
Wegpeople.
-
Don't assume, don't assign.
(yes, sarcasm is turned on for that)
ahem
Did you just assume my species?
Wegbeings, if you please.
This^
The "Urban Concept" Wegmans stores are really polarizing among the initiated. Myself and a significant number of people in my circle are all Upstate NY expats who grew up with Wegmans, and I don't personally know anyone who is a fan. Yelp reviews of the Chestnut Hill store seem to be a mixed bag from that crowd, too. To be blunt, they might as well just put up a Whole Foods sign IMO.
I think a mix of adding a "real" Wegmans much closer to the city in Medford that is also on Instacart, competition from existing grocery options in Fenway including Target, Whole Foods, and Star Market; and having Time Out Market as a direct competitor to prepared foods made a Wegmans there kind of pointless and maybe a bad business move.
I didn’t grow up with Wegmans
I didn’t grow up with Wegmans but I did live in Syracuse for a time, so I know how great those stores are. I still like the Chestnut Hill one though because you can get store brand “family packs” of basics like meat, dry grocery, paper goods, etc at much lower prices than WF or Star market. The difficulty with that one is it’s only accessible by car or the 60 bus. It would be great to have those options on the green line.
I had a *horrible* experience
I had a *horrible* experience at the Chestnut Hill Wegman's.
The parking was a massive traffic jam, with no way to skip the jam by parking at the far edge since it was a garage with a single path through it. It was hard to find anything. The lack of aisle numbers didn't help. I wasn't impressed by the selection, and certainly wasn't impressed by the prices. Customer Service was rude when I had to sign up for a discount card (which is a pointless bit of bureaucracy anyway).
The worst part was the checkout, which took forever. About 25 minutes even though there were only two people ahead of me.
I just didn't see the point. There was no reason for the aggravation, when I could get the same food for less money in much less time somewhere else.
Yep!
Native Syracusan here, agree 100%. I just want a REAL Wegmans nearby so I never have to enter a Stop and Shop ever again.
Medford
generally gets the job done, though even pre-pandemic was a constant s**tshow and always seemed to be out of 2-3 things on my list. Convenience fee for city proximity, I suppose.
Depending on where in the area you are, Burlington or Natick could be worth the trip. Pre-COVID we used to do Eastie to Burlington most Sundays and use Medford as a backup if we were busy or weather was bad.
Eh, I’m in Roxbury. The South
Eh, I’m in Roxbury. The South Bay S&S is just a few minutes away by car so I tolerate it, but every time I go in there I hate that store just a little bit more. Might be worth trying Medford just to see if the trip is worth it. Do they carry salt potatoes and Hoffman hot dogs?
They do
just grilled up some Hofmanns' this week!
Wegmans is great for cheap
Wegmans is great for cheap booze and shelf-stable snacks, but their produce section is abysmal: poor quality, few options and crazy overpriced. Never understood the Wegmans hype. That being said, Wegmans would be an improvement over that bizarre Star Market.
Noooo
Where will I illegally park when I need to run a ten minute errand??
The surface lot at 401 Park
The surface lot at 401 Park allows you to park for free for up to 15 minutes. It's not advertised on the ticket kiosk -- but it's great for picking up Trillium, Timeout takeout or a body pillow at BBB.
In a Loading Zone
or a bus stop, like everyone else. duh.
renaming iconic buildings
Renaming iconic buildings seems like a fools errand. Generations of people barely know that Prudential and Hancock are insurance companies. But those are the names of those two towers.
I've never heard anyone other than a real estate person (or maybe reporter) call it 201 Clarendon, or whatever the Hancock's official name is now.
The Garden had to revert back. Landmark Center should have left things alone...
You Mean The Sears Building?
Landmark Center as a name is only 25 years old.
I still call it the Sears Building...
I must be really old. I knew the area was called the "Landmark Center" (it's not really much of a "center" to be honest), but I'm not sure I ever even knew that building had been renamed the "Landmark Building". And to think I used to laugh at my grandmother for calling the State T stop "Devonshire" and calling the trolleys "streetcars". What goes around comes around. I think I'll go down to the Music Hall and see Three Dog Night.
TDN is still touring
but it only has two dogs in it now.
Yes, Sears building!
Is a better name than Landmark. Thanks for the reminder.
"The Sears Building"
The problem is there are so many of them. Another well known Sears building is outside Porter Sq.
That's now the Porter Exchange
Or at least, it was the Porter Exchange until Lesley moved in and kicked out the Japanese market for their bookstore for the classrooms upstairs. Sadly, Tokai just closed due to the pandemic.
Naming rights
I've long thought that if some bank were to buy the naming rights to that building on Causeway Street, and announce that it would now be known as "Boston Garden", they would be beloved forever. Much better publicity than naming it after themselves.
Except that naming rights get you millions
of mentions in media of all types over the course of a season. I don't know many corporate brand managers who would say, "Doing the nostalgic thing would be better publicity for us."
I don't like corporate names on stadiums and arenas, am glad it's still just Fenway Park and not something as awful as CMGI Field or SoFi Stadium, but selling naming rights is an important revenue source for a lot of teams, especially in smaller markets.
Non-naming rights
from today's article about the Huntington Theatre Company's renovation plans:
Never speak ill of
CMGI Field. That was a genius sponsorship move.
How many remember the Tower Records building?
Hell, how many even remember records?
The one on Berkeley CA as a teen
Was a religious experience in the 80s. The Boston version, not so much.
It was a huge deal when Boston got one, though.
We always swooned for that kind of validation!
Vinyl had a resurgence in
Vinyl had a resurgence in popularity several years ago.
Too much change...
Can we jump back into a time machine to the days when Ramrod, 1270 and McDonald's were in play (oh, and when we could also walk around without masks)?
We probably wouldn't feel so much this way about the old stuff
...if all the new stuff wasn't so bland and soulless.
Diner?
And wasn't there an all night diner/restaurant right across the street from the Star on the corner? Actually a bit more high end than a diner, but we used to go there after the 1270 closed at 2 AM. It was open for a number of years. I was never crazy about their food.
The Jewish deli?
Right where that pointy luxury high rise is now? With the stuffed derma and the other stuff most people would only go "ew" at? That's the ticket ...
The Empire Deli
The restauarant was the Empire Deli! All the people on Boylston clubs went there. All the Kenmore people went to Deli Haus on Comm Ave. The good old days.
It was the Empire Diner.
It was the Empire Diner.
Great
Coming soon: Another luxury apartment building that working class Boston natives can’t afford. :(
Literally anything is better
Literally anything is better than a closed gas station and an empty parking lot. Even an operating gas station does not fit in a dense neighborhood.
How about...
...something that serves the needs of people who live in that "dense neighborhood" and doesn't cater (pander) to people who visit once a year?
...like an apartment building?
Not sure how building housing doesn't serve the needs of people living there (unless we're separating "people who already live there" vs "people who will live there" as two totally different groups for some reason)
Could they just make it way
Could they just make it way easier to cross the street? Like make some cool bridges and wavy ramps and stuff between like ruggles and Fenway stations to connect up the parkways. How come every park has to be surrounded by a high speed "park way" (is that supposed to stand for "park highway"?)? How come none of these places give people trying to walk from their neighborhood over to the tiny patch of forest the right of way?
It'a a lot better than it used to be
For many decades, the park that is now mostly river, across from the 401 Park Drive building, was a Sears parking lot.
Actual apartment buildings
Actual apartment buildings are good. Condos, who the F can afford condos? Anything but condos!
Supply and demand.
Supply and demand.
Build more condos and more people can afford them.
Condos in South Florida go for $60k or less.
When it's insanely expensive...
...it doesn't serve the needs of people who live there.
Well, yeah, I mean...gentrification is a real thing, so why wouldn't we separate them?
Thank you for the memories.
Thank you for the memories.