New Balance is proposing to expand its Brighton campus with a new headquarters building, a track and field center, shops and restaurants, and a hockey rink.
According to the Boston Globe, the development would take place on 14 acres the company is calling Boston’s new “health and wellness district” along Guest Street. New Balance's real estate arm, New Brighton Landing LLC, filed plans for the project with city regulators this week.
The company on Jan. 1 submitted a letter of intent to the Boston Redevelopment Authority from “New Brighton Landing LLC,” to develop the site of its Brighton headquarters and an adjacent site it acquired in March last year for $26.5 million. The planned development is located at 38-180 Guest St. and 77 Guest St.
In addition to its own headquarters, the company wrote in the filing that it wants to build up to three new office buildings to be occupied by other “like-minded” businesses, along with a boutique hotel, shops and restaurants, and a public park.
The project “seeks to create an anchor for renewed activity along the Guest Street corridor, focused on job creation, health and wellness, sporting activities, public open space, and vast improvements to public infrastructure,” Lawrence Kaplan, manager of New Brighton Landing, wrote in the filing.
The company is also seeking construction of a new commuter rail station on Everett Street, although that part of the project is still under discussion with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Last year, New Balance paid $26.5 million for two properties on Guest Street, a move that put an end to a controversial four-year effort by Lowe’s to build its first home improvement store in the area. Marathon Realty Corp. in Newton, which owned the vacant Barry Controls manufacturing plant, sold the site to New Brighton Landing LLC, a division of New Balance, for $21.2 million. New Balance also bought the Massachusetts Electric Construction Co. site at 180 Guest St. for $5.3 million.
New Balance will spend the next several months meeting with community groups and city officials to craft a more detailed vision for the site. It will need several permits from the Boston Redevelopment Authority and other city agencies before it can start construction.
