Life-sciences developer to give Brighton warehouse to the city for music studios

IQHQ, which forced musicians out of the Sound Museum space at 155 North Beacon St. so it could put up a three-building life-sciences complex, said today it will give a warehouse just up the street to Boston to create a new home for musician studios.

Mayor Wu says the BPDA is expected to vote next month on formally accepting the roughly 35,000-square feet building at 290 North Beacon St., currently home to Boston Light & Sound, which sets up and runs meeting spaces. The agency would then schedule community meetings by the end of the summer to help draft an RFP for contractors to turn the warehouse into musician workspaces.

IQHQ paid $18 million for the warehouse, which sits on roughly an acre of land, in December. The seller, Futurelite Realty Trust, had owned the roughly 94-year-old building since 1997.

In a statement, the mayor said:

I am grateful to Councilor Breadon, the Office of Arts and Culture, the BPDA, the #ARTSTAYSHERE Coalition and our community partners for their quick efforts to secure a space for our artists to have a place to call their own.

After the Sound Museum was shut, the #ARSTAYSHERE Coaltion worked with the owner of a vacant building at 55 Morrissey Blvd. to create 88 temporary studios, with two-year leases.