Kenmore’s historic Buckminster Hotel to transform into life sciences campus

The Hotel Buckminster, long a historic landmark in Kenmore Square, will soon transform into an “iconic, state-of-the-art life science campus” as part of a plan by developer IQHQ.

“The Buckminster presents an opportunity to further scale the company’s iconic, state-of-the-art life science campus,” the company announced.

The Hotel Buckminster closed its doors on March 20, 2020 as sweeping restrictions on businesses amid the COVID-19 outbreak shuttered thousands of businesses across the state. A few months later, the hotel’s managers decided the Kenmore Square landmark would not reopen.

IQHQ, a developer that specializes in life science facilities, announced on Wednesday that it had acquired the triangular property at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street where the hotel building sits.

Though the company didn’t detail its plans for the Buckminster, the California-based firm primarily builds lab space. The company said the former hotel’s location next-door to its $1 billion Fenway Center development and the neighboring 109 Brookline Avenue and 20 Overland Street properties — which IQHQ also acquired separately over the last two years — presents an opportunity.

“The Buckminster represents an opportunity to enhance IQHQ’s vision to develop a vibrant life science district that runs from Kenmore Square through the Fenway to the premier research, academic and medical institutes in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area,” John Bonanno, Chief Investment Officer of IQHQ, said in a statement. “We are excited about the promise this central and evolving location holds to connect these prominent neighborhoods and institutions.”

The company did not disclose the purchase price of the property.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3bFEXOA