Photo courtesy of IQHQ

A Kenmore square hotel that’s been shuttered since the onset of COVID-19 is set for redevelopment as life science space following a $42.5 million transaction that closed Wednesday.

IQHQ Inc., the biggest investor in the Fenway’s emerging life science cluster, acquired the Buckminster hotel property Thursday as it expands its holdings in the neighborhood.

Biotech researchers’ unrelenting demand for space beyond the industry’s Cambridge epicenter has spilled over into the Fenway. In September, Gritstone Bio signed on as the first life science tenant at Related Beal’s One Kenmore Square, a 243,000-square-foot conversion of former Boston University office space.

And a partnership including the Boston Red Sox owners is proposing nearly 1.7 million square feet of office and lab space as part of its 2.1 million-square-foot redevelopment of 13 parcels surrounding Fenway Park.

IQHQ is partnering with developer Meredith Management on the Fenway Center air rights project including two office-lab towers totaling 720,000 square feet over the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Solana Beach, California-based REIT also is seeking approval from the Boston Planning & Redevelopment Agency to redevelop an office and retail building at 109 Brookline Ave. as a 250,000-square-foot life science complex. 

“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,” IQHQ Chief Development Officer John Bonanno said in a statement.

The 124-year-old property has a place in major league baseball lore as the location where the Chicago “Black Sox” scandal was hatched. A bookie met with a Chicago White Sox player in his room to discuss plans to fix the 1919 World Series.