Fenway Center (One Kenmore) | Turnpike PARCEL 7, Beacon Street | Fenway

[Jasonik]

Parcel 7 is approximately 158,000 sq. ft. consisting of approximately 73,000 sq. ft. of land and approximately 85,000 sq. ft. of air rights, and is strategically located near the convergence of four thriving Boston neighborhoods: the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, the Fenway, and Audubon Circle. Parcel 7 offers a unique opportunity to develop a "Gateway" project approaching Boston from the west. Access, high visibility, and diverse populations living in the area will contribute to a successful development. Parcel 7 offers important opportunities to fill in gaps along both Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue, forging stronger connections between Kenmore Square and the districts to the west, adding new housing, retail, office, and creating a public setting for the Yawkey commuter rail station. Parcel 7 could also accommodate parking for existing area uses, including, without limitation, the Longwood Medical Area, Fenway Park, residents, and local businesses.

Fenway?s new frontier: Pike to sell rights to build over road
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Monday, November 27, 2006

A development venture that could reshape the neighborhood around Fenway Park just got a key green light.
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has put on the sales block a stretch of highway air rights near the ballpark that is important to a major project featuring the Red Sox [team stats] and a local developer.
The highway authority is selling the so-called Parcel 7, the right to build over the highway between Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street, near the Yawkey commuter rail station.
And that decision, in turn, is expected to allow a stalled development plan, featuring the Sox and local developer and anti-gun activist John Rosenthal, to move forward.
Rosenthal and the Sox are pushing plans that call for a mix of housing, parking and an expanded Yawkey Station transportation hub near the ballpark.
But since that plan was unveiled more than a year ago, it has sat in limbo, with the Turnpike making no move to unload Parcel 7, a crucial part of the proposal.
?I think the neighborhood would like to see that project (move forward),? said Lisa Soli of the Fenway Community Development Corp.. ?It would be nice to see something other than a sea of parking lots.?
Some have concerns, though.
The intitial plans called for a parking garage, on a deck over the Turnpike, surrounded by housing and other buildings, noted Bill Richardson of the Fenway Civic Assocation.
He fears the result may be a glorified parking complex, rather than a larger, urban project that would be more beneficial to the neighborhood.
?I can tell you, from the neighborhood?s perspective, we are looking for a development that adds to the urban environment as opposed to a parking garage surrounded by a few businesses and homes,? Richardson said.

[castevens]

Hopefully a building will soar over the mass pike soon

It's come to the point where the first thing I do when I see his name at the top of the article is to search it for any incidence of the word "soar," although I will say that he hasn't used it as much as of late

[Mike]

Game plan: $450M Fenway complex
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Wednesday, January 10, 2007


A local developer aims to team up with the Boston Red Sox on a $450 million air-rights complex plan that would deck over the nearby Massachusetts Turnpike and further transform the neighborhood around Fenway Park.

Newton builder John Rosenthal yesterday unveiled plans to build a mixed-use complex across the street from the ballpark, near where there are alsoplans for a new rail and bus transportation hub.

The proposed project features 560 apartments in two high-rises as well as more than 1,200 parking spots in two garages and a host of new neighborhood shops.

While the condo market has cooled, demand for new rentals is heating up, Rosenthal said.

?We are bullish on it, especially in such a strong rental market,? he said.

Rosenthal, who has tried for years to build a signature high-rise project near Fenway, said he is also close to reaching an agreement to bring the Red Sox on as minority partners. And he?s also brought on board a big-name architect, Carlos Zapata, best known for designing the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

The air-rights proposal - which would have to pass muster with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority - envisions a parking garage, as well as retail shops, taking shape on a deck to be built over the highway on so-called Parcel 7. That is adjacent to the Yawkey Way commuter rail station near the bustling corner of Brookline Ave.and Lansdowne Street.

Separately, the MBTA is in the early stages of converting the modest Yawkey rail stop into a full-fledged transportation hub that would include bus service.

The Red Sox are also discussing the future purchase of a 340-space garage Rosenthal owns at the head of Lansdowne Street across from the ballpark, Rosenthal said.

His proposal, filed yesterday, was the only one received by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which had put Parcel 7 - a key stretch of land and air-rights over the highway - out to bid.



Link

[jass]

Rental = good idea. BU and Berkeley, as well as the many smaller schools in the area create a demand for rentals.

Yawkey improvement = good. Thats where I* go to catch the Worcester train, and having a bigger station would probably mean more trains stopping.

My problem was just a month ago, when I came on the last train by. Yawkey = 2 minute walk. Back bay = 20 minute walk at 2am. (im cheap, no cab for me)

[statler]

Originally Posted by The Globe

For developer, 3d time may be charm
Kenmore plan would add housing, parking near Pike

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | January 10, 2007

Developer John Rosenthal yesterday unveiled his latest plan to remake the Kenmore Square neighborhood near Fenway Park, a 1.3-million-square-foot project that would put two residential towers along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

If completed, Rosenthal's One Kenmore would add 668 housing units to the area and cover more than 500 feet of the open Turnpike corridor . It would create pedestrian access between Beacon Street and Fenway Park, and would improve access to the MBTA commuter rail's Yawkey Station.

Rosenthal yesterday submitted the only bid to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to build on land, with air rights, known as Parcel 7, just west of Brookline Avenue. His plans include 20- and 17-floor towers, 57,000 square feet of restaurants and retail space, and, if fully built , five buildings that would include parking for more than 1,200 vehicles.

The platform at Yawkey Station would be extended, and the station would be more easily reached from both Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue. Plans also call for a vehicle drop-off area .

Rosenthal had submitted two earlier plans for the area, and yesterday he expressed relief there was no competition for the Turnpike award on his third attempt. "It's been 10 years," Rosenthal said. "I certainly expected to have it built by now."

One major difference between Rosenthal's current plan and previous ones involves the position of the Boston Red Sox, the 800-pound gorilla in the neighborhood. The Red Sox had quietly opposed Rosenthal's original idea, unveiled in 2002 for a location on the other side of Brookline Avenue, fearing it would put too large a development close to Fenway Park.

Rosenthal's initial proposal also called for a 1.3-million-square-foot project; he scaled that one back after hearing objections, but the Turnpike and city officials still heard concerns that the project would crowd Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

Now, however, the Red Sox are expected to be minority investment partners with Rosenthal on the project. "The Red Sox were a very worthy opponent and are a wonderful ally," Rosenthal quipped.

"This represents a very exciting time in the revitalization of the Longwood-Fenway-Kenmore area," Janet Marie Smith, senior vice president for planning and development for the Red Sox, said in a statement.

The project will have to go through a City Hall review , and Mayor Thomas M. Menino was positive yesterday. "It's an exciting mix of uses, and state-of-the-art design for the Yawkey Way transit station will greatly enhance the Kenmore-Fenway area," he said.

A Turnpike spokesman said the authority does not have a timetable for deciding on Parcel 7.

Rosenthal is continuing to use Carlos Zapata of Carlos Zapata Studio of New York, formerly of Wood+Zapata in Boston, as his architect, but a firm that has done work for the Red Sox, D'Agostino Izzo Quirk Architects of Somerville, is also now participating.

The new location is expected to improve Rosenthal's chances of getting the project built. Although many community members supported Rosenthal's proposals from the start, they also liked the idea of moving the project farther from the heart of Kenmore Square.

Rosenthal is president of Meredith Management Corp., a residential development company founded in 1951 by his father. It manages 250,000 square feet of commercial property and more than 1,000 apartments and cooperative units.

One Kenmore would be his biggest project .

His current plan would offer the residential units as apartments, because that market is stronger than the one for condominiums. A total of 393 of the units would be in the two towers, with some 160 in seven-story buildings along the south side of Beacon Street.

The rest of the apartments -- 115 or so -- would be in seven-story buildings along Brookline Avenue that would fit in architecturally with the neighborhood and would wrap around a 662-car public parking garage to be constructed over the Turnpike . Left unanswered in Rosenthal's proposal is who would build and own that garage, designed for use by visitors to Fenway Park and the congested Longwood Medical Area nearby.

The Boston Transportation Department is studying parking needs in the area.

One Kenmore, meanwhile, would have 602 parking spaces in a separate garage for its residents.

Rosenthal's original proposal on the other side of Brookline Avenue would have replaced the aging Lansdowne Street parking garage, across from Fenway's Green Monster. He bought the garage for $2.4 million in 1992.

Under his current agreement with the Red Sox, the team's owners would buy the 340-space garage, built in 1910, and redevelop the property with a use and scale that the team owners consider compatible with Fenway Park.

Rosenthal retains the rights he won in 2002 to develop three other Turnpike air rights parcels, extending east toward downtown from Brookline Avenue.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.

Link

[xec]

Originally Posted by The Herald

The proposed project features 560 apartments

Originally Posted by The Globe

One Kenmore would add 668 housing units to the area

So number of apartments X 1.19285 = number of housing units. I didn't realize they're different units of measurement. At least it's simpler than going from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

[sidewalks]

Actually, "apartments" and "housing units" are different. Technically speaking, apartments are only for rent. Condominiums are also "housing units" but are only for sale, and not for rent. So the number of apartments plus the number of condos, would equal the total number of housing units. That said, newspapers, often incorrectly, use these terms interchangeably.

[bbfen]

Surprised none of you hawks mentioned the Courant article. They don't have a website, but check the library and local businesses for an edition.

[Rick]

More info here: http://www.meredithmanagement.com/news.htm

Click on the PDF link to the right.

[jass]

Originally Posted by Rick

More info here: http://www.meredithmanagement.com/news.htm

Click on the PDF link to the right.

I like the project.

[KentXie]

The building's base like the base of the Trump Tower in Chicago.

[vanshnookenraggen]

The long, low building is really nice but the towers seem way out of place and way out of scale. I'm sure they will get hell for that by people in Brookline.

[kz1000ps]

And it's that logic that keeps Boston housing prices so high. You've got the Photonics Center, Warren Towers, Landmark and Trilogy all within 1,000 ft, plus the best public transit service outside of downtown or Copley Square... if a pair of dinky 20 story towers (and come on, 20 stories is pretty darn dinky) isn't appropriate here, then the complainers should be forced to show on a map exactly where such a location would be for these.

And Brookline better not complain - their boundary line is some four blocks west of the western-most portion of this project. Surely they wouldn't be worried about any shadows cast by these at 6 in the morning.

[jass]

Originally Posted by kz1000ps

And it's that logic that keeps Boston housing prices so high. You've got the Photonics Center, Warren Towers, Landmark and Trilogy all within 1,000 ft, plus the best public transit service outside of downtown or Copley Square... if a pair of dinky 20 story towers (and come on, 20 stories is pretty darn dinky) isn't appropriate here, then the complainers should be forced to show on a map exactly where such a location would be for these.

And Brookline better not complain - their boundary line is some four blocks west of the western-most portion of this project. Surely they wouldn't be worried about any shadows cast by these at 6 in the morning.

I was thinking that its in the best interest of the project people to get a more modern picture of the area, showing the triology built. That way they seem more in scale.

It amazes me that the pru was built in the middle of flatlands, and today people bitch about anything over 8 floors.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Well the last time Brookline went for modern high rise apartments in the 60s they got stuck with the many horrible and grim things that sadly dot the town now.

[Ron Newman]

Before the Mass Pike was built, a movie theatre stood on this site.

[blade_bltz]

Originally Posted by Joe_Schmoe

Well the last time Brookline went for modern high rise apartments in the 60s they got stuck with the many horrible and grim things that sadly dot the town now.

I kind of like the high rises along Beacon. There's an atrocious looking complex by the Star Market near Washington Square, but for some reason I've always been fascinated by it.

[PaulC]

Are the plans for parcels 8 & 9 dead?

Could Yawkey station be moved to parcel 8 to allow a connection to Kenmore Sq Station?

[briv]

Noticed this blurb on the current Banker & Tradesman, but unfortunately you need a subscription to read online.

Originally Posted by Banker & Tradesman

Hub Mayor Throws Support Behind One Kenmore Project
Menino Backs $400M Residential/Retail Development; Newly Revised Proposal Still Awaits Other Approvals

By Thomas Grillo
Thumbs up. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has given the go-ahead for a $400 million residential and retail development over the Massachusetts Turnpike between Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

Also, here are some renderings pulled out of project PDF:

[vanshnookenraggen]

Man oh man, the Fenway is getting all the nice development! Even those "towers" look pretty nice and not overwhelming.