Marlborough's $160M development announces tenants, openings

Grant Welker From left to right, a Friendly's, a Hyatt Place hotel and a building that will host Hot Table, Zoots, IC Federal Credit Union, Sport Clips and Oxford Smile.

Write a Comment

By Grant Welker

The $160-million, 475,000-square-foot Apex Center of New England has begun opening on Route 20 in Marlborough this week, with about two dozen tenants set to open in all.

Apex Center has also announced several new tenants, including Protein House, a health-conscious restaurant also slated to open a location on the 145 Front apartment development in downtown Worcester. Batteries + Bulbs, Dalla Nails & Spa and the dentist office Oxford Smiles are also among the newly announced tenants.

The first office tenant has also been signed. Vidsys, a software manufacturer with offices across Route 20 in Marlborough, says it will move in early next year. Vidsys, which is based in Washington and has offices worldwide, will occupy 5,000 square feet of what will eventually be a 113,000-square-foot office building. The first phase of those offices includes about 44,000 square feet over three floors.

The first tenant to open at Apex Center was 110 Grill on Tuesday. The 137-room Hyatt Place hotel is set to follow on Oct. 31.

Walker Realty LLC, the developer of Apex Center, has announced projected opening dates for a range of other tenants.

A Friendly's restaurant and Hot Table panini eatery are both slated to open Nov. 6. The Friendly's will have a drive-through, a relatively new feature for the longtime Wilbraham company. The 108-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is set to open Nov. 12, and a Chick-fil-A restaurant will also open in the first half of November.

Other tenants remain further away from opening. Goldfish Swim School and TITLE Boxing Club will open in November or December, and Evviva Cucina, a restaurant that serves pizza, salads and others on a broad menu, is tentatively set to open in early December. A car wash will open in December, and a Starbucks with a drive-through may also open before the end of the year.

The project's centerpiece, the Apex entertainment complex, is expected to open late this fall. The massive, two-story building includes restaurants and bars, a Planet Fitness gym, bumper cars, a trampoline park, bowling, laser tag, a kart track and a rope course.

Several other tenants don't yet have a projected opening, including Qdoba, T-Mobile, Sport Clips, Okami Hibachi, Zoots, IC Federal Credit Union, Protein House, Batteries + Bulbs and Dalla Nails & Spa.

The site includes a Bank of America and a Wendy's that precede the Apex Center and are not formally part of the development.

Click below for slideshow.