Lego picks Boylston Street building for new headquarters

The final piece for Lego’s move to Boston is now in place. The Denmark-based toymaker said on Monday that it selected 1001 Boylston St., the office and lab building under construction over the Massachusetts Turnpike along Mass. Ave., as its new Americas headquarters. Lego Group said in January that it would relocate to the city from Enfield, Conn., bringing about 740 jobs with it, in what would be one of the larger headquarters moves to Boston in recent years. Governor Maura Healey called Lego’s arrival “an incredible opportunity to bring new jobs and innovation to the area, while inspiring the next generation of leaders.” The company is leasing 100,000 square feet across five floors in the building — which will also be home to the headquarters of car-shopping website CarGurus Inc. — enough space to house between 700 and 750 workers. It will move there in phases, with plans to open its Boston headquarters by mid-2025 and close its Connecticut office by the end of 2026. Employees have until mid-February to decide whether they want to relocate. The new office’s location near both downtown Boston and Cambridge, access to public transportation, and sustainable building elements were draws. Being just a mile down Mass. Ave. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was also a plus. The toymaker has partnered with MIT for nearly 40 years, sponsoring the MIT Media Lab and collaborating on robotics and automation, and the Lego Foundation in 2017 endowed a graduate student fellowship program at the Media Lab. Kodak is hopeful a Boston headquarters will create more opportunities for partnerships. With the Lego deal, the office and lab portion of the 450,000-square-foot 1001 Boylston is 75 percent leased. There’s also another 35,000 square feet of street-level retail and restaurants. Beyond the office, the air-rights project will feature a CitizenM hotel, a new MBTA station entrance, and public plaza with retail, restaurants, and open space connecting Newbury and Boylston along Mass. Ave. The first air-rights project over the highway in decades — one that former governor Charlie Baker once pronounced “an incredible feat of engineering” — requires spanning eight lanes of roadway and active rail lines. — CATHERINE CARLOCK