Office supply giant Staples will open a new two-story, flagship store in the former home of Newbury Comics near City Hall in Downtown Boston.
The Framingham-based retailer will occupy about half of One Washington Mall’s first floor, shared by a Planet Fitness gym, and will take up the entire second floor as well.
Staples will close its 25 Court St. store to allow the new flagship to thrive near the seat of Boston’s city government, according to industry sources that asked for anonymity. Commercial real estate executives said the new store could open as soon as this fall. It is still unclear what will replace the Court Street store. Company officials did not return repeated calls.
The new Staples store will be a boon to joint venture owners Saracen Properties and AEW Capital Management, which are looking to sell the building, according to industry experts.
The two firms purchased the 16-story property for $33.5 million in 2006. Since then, Saracen has overseen $3 million in capital improvements at the 156,000-square-foot building.
According to Saracen’s website, One Washington was 60 percent occupied at the time of purchase. Since then, the capital investment has netted more than 45,000 square feet of absorption in new leases, making the property more than 80 percent occupied.
