Oxford Properties Group is updating the lobby and adding outdoor amenities at 125 Summer St., a 475,303-square-foot Boston office tower that it acquired two years ago, to maximize connections to the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

The Stantec-designed project includes a new main entrance facing the Greenway.

“The building has an incredible location, but it was hidden in plain sight. With changes that were remnants of the ‘Big Dig’ impacting pedestrian and vehicular patterns, the decision to create a singular and clear entry fronting the existing plaza was obvious,” Larry Grossman, senior principal at Stantec, said in a statement.

Lobby space was converted into lounge areas for casual meetings. Future changes will include new retail shops and a restaurant.
A redesigned public plaza will add tables and Adirondack chairs during the warm weather months.

Oxford, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, acquired the tower from Blackstone’s Equity Office division in 2014 for $242.5 million. It owns several other Boston properties in its portfolio and is seeking to establish a U.S. real estate portfolio worth $10 billion by 2018.
Chad Remis, head of Oxford’s Boston office, said in a statement the new plaza creates “a true third space” near the Greenway and South Station. The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and Downtown Boston Improvement District collaborated in the designs.

Completed in 1989, 125 Summer has 41,000 square feet available.