Wellesley Board Splits on Gateway Park Signs, Continues Monument Decision

WELLESLEY — June 24, 2026 — Wellesley Design Review Board approves a Route 9 building sign for an incoming medical anchor but punts on monument signs at the town's highway gateway. The board unanimously cleared a halo-illuminated facade sign for Skincare Physicians on Building 110 at Gateway Park — a 400,000-square-foot, four-building office complex at Route 9 and Interstate 95 — while continuing the companion application for two monument signs at the Route 9 and Dearborn Street intersection after a 90-minute debate. Chair Juann Khoory declared a "hard no" on a proposed new freestanding monument near Dearborn Street, saying the location would send the practice's estimated 350 daily patients down the wrong road, and members pushed back on a plan to add Skincare Physicians and Morgan Stanley panels above the existing Wellesley Gateway stone monument, with Member Mark Wendell warning the board should not be "bastardizing" the sign's established hierarchy. The applicant team — Bart Steele of Viewpoint Sign and Awning and Beacon Capital representative David Tinnery — was directed to return with a revised approach, potentially a two-sided redesign of the existing monument, at a future meeting. In separate votes, the board also approved a sign permit for Nissi's Hair Salon at 318R Washington Street and reappointed Khoory and Wendell to three-year terms and Alternate Member Alex Zhou to a one-year term.