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

[theSil]

That sure is one wide carport

[JumboBuc]

Originally Posted by xec

Hmmm...wasn't there a headline once that went Work on the long-delayed Columbus Center project finally about to start?

This thing is 100% on terra firma. It's not the Columbus Center.

[jass]

Originally Posted by xec

Hmmm...wasn't there a headline once that went Work on the long-delayed Columbus Center project finally about to start?

Pretty sure you can find the exact same sentence 8 or 9 times in this very thread.

[bigpicture7]

it wouldn't be aB without a healthy dose of cynicism.

It's ok, I am happy to assume my usual role as optimist.

This time's the charm, fellas. At least for the terra firma part. Not to mention, the spokesperson says shovels in the ground at the turn of the New Year - that's easily verifiable enough!

[odurandina]

312 units is a huge upgrade for the area.... But what incentives does the developer have to (someday/ actually) break ground on Phase II?

and what other insanely awesome circumstances would be required to make the megga-project a reality?

[elemenoh]

For those without a Globe subscription, here's the post from MassDOT:
http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/...pment-project/

The Baker-Polito Administration’s Department of Transportation today announced that after nearly two decades of discussions, it has closed on a lease agreement for Phase I of the Fenway Center Development Project, allowing for construction to begin immediately on two buildings which will contain rental housing units, retail and office space, as well as a direct pedestrian walkway to the adjacent Yawkey commuter rail station and a parking lot with more than 1,200 spaces.

[Equilibria]

Originally Posted by elemenoh

For those without a Globe subscription, here's the post from MassDOT:
http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/...pment-project/

The Baker-Polito Administration’s Department of Transportation today announced that after nearly two decades of discussions, it has closed on a lease agreement for Phase I of the Fenway Center Development Project, allowing for construction to begin immediately on two buildings which will contain rental housing units, retail and office space, as well as a direct pedestrian walkway to the adjacent Yawkey commuter rail station and a parking lot with more than 1,200 spaces.

"the developer is required to close the Phase II lease by December 2020."

Also, I'd suggest splitting the thread at this point to allow the Phase I buildings (and BeeLine's photo stream) a bit of a clean start while we keep complaining about air rights in here.

[Equilibria]

http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/...pment-project/

I'd propose splitting a construction thread for Phase I off from what is sure to be an enlivening discussion of the air rights-based Phase II on the other thread.

Construction will begin within a week.

I've been curious upon seeing this picture if the decking over the CR tracks to get to Yawkey really comes with this phase. I hope it does.

[DZH22]

Originally Posted by Equilibria

"the developer is required to close the Phase II lease by December 2020."

That is the taller air rights building, correct? What happens if they don't close the lease?

[Equilibria]

Originally Posted by DZH22

That is the taller air rights building, correct? What happens if they don't close the lease?

One assumes that they get to rebid the rights to the parcel.

[jass]

If theyre still planning that idiotic garage, they can delay another 12 years

[FenwayResident]

Originally Posted by jass

If theyre still planning that idiotic garage, they can delay another 12 years

One of the few places a garage makes sense is near a ballpark. Currently the entire Fenway neighborhood is a traffic hellscape during a home game because of people parking in random garages and gas stations throughout the neighborhood.

IMO it makes way more sense to put a garage right next to the ballpark and two major streets, than force all those people to drive around looking for parking. Ideally part of this project would include a westbound on-ramp to the mass pike but I doubt that is ever going to happen.

[fattony]

Originally Posted by FenwayResident

IMO it makes way more sense to put a garage right next to the ballpark and two major streets, than force all those people to drive around looking for parking. Ideally part of this project would include a westbound on-ramp to the mass pike but I doubt that is ever going to happen.

I have to begrudgingly agree. This isn't the worst spot for a garage.

[jass]

Originally Posted by FenwayResident

One of the few places a garage makes sense is near a ballpark. Currently the entire Fenway neighborhood is a traffic hellscape during a home game because of people parking in random garages and gas stations throughout the neighborhood.

IMO it makes way more sense to put a garage right next to the ballpark and two major streets, than force all those people to drive around looking for parking.

You have it reversed. It is a traffic hellscape BECAUSE there is so much parking, and people know it. Making parking even easier will only add traffic.

Even at $40 a game, it makes more financial sense to drive in a car than buy round trip commuter rail tickets for 4.

If your parking option was the prudential center, then guess what, people would take the train.

[FenwayResident]

Originally Posted by jass

You have it reversed. It is a traffic hellscape BECAUSE there is so much parking, and people know it. Making parking even easier will only add traffic.

Even at $40 a game, it makes more financial sense to drive in a car than buy round trip commuter rail tickets for 4.

If your parking option was the prudential center, then guess what, people would take the train.

You're right that some extra people would take the train if it were harder to find parking. But do you think someone from the South Shore would drive to the commuter rail station, take the commuter rail into SS, red line to park, then D line to Fenway instead of driving straight in? What about people coming from the North West? IMO it's naively optimistic to think people would take such a a roundabout way when they could drive instead. It's not good urban planning to put your head in the sand and ignore demand that exists.

[reverend_paco]

Originally Posted by Equilibria

One assumes that they get to rebid the rights to the parcel.

I thought I remember reading somewhere (maybe here?) that the reason the developer got the rights to the terra-firma plots was with the promise to develop the air plots, and that the reason it has taken so long to do the development was because of this tension.

[jass]

Originally Posted by FenwayResident

You're right that some extra people would take the train if it were harder to find parking. But do you think someone from the South Shore would drive to the commuter rail station, take the commuter rail into SS, red line to park, then D line to Fenway instead of driving straight in? What about people coming from the North West? IMO it's naively optimistic to think people would take such a a roundabout way when they could drive instead. It's not good urban planning to put your head in the sand and ignore demand that exists.

It's not good urban planning to create demand for driving in an area like Fenway.

Someone coming from the south shore can drive to one of the massive garages on the Braintree line.

Someone coming from north west can drive to Riverside.

People would take "such a roundabout way" if it was the best option. Currently it is NOT the best option because parking near the stadium isnt that hard. Adding 1,200 parking spots makes it even easier, and encourages even folks along the Worcester line to drive in.

[Rover]

Originally Posted by FenwayResident

You're right that some extra people would take the train if it were harder to find parking. But do you think someone from the South Shore would drive to the commuter rail station, take the commuter rail into SS, red line to park, then D line to Fenway instead of driving straight in? What about people coming from the North West? IMO it's naively optimistic to think people would take such a a roundabout way when they could drive instead. It's not good urban planning to put your head in the sand and ignore demand that exists.

Completely agree. I'm all for public transit but some people are overestimating the experience. With a family of 4, especially if you have young kids, you have to drive to a station 20 or so miles out and pay for parking, have your arrival and departure time dictated by the train schedule, then catch a connecting subway train once you get into the city to get to Fenway where you're usually packed in like cattle, then have to leave according to the train schedule to get you back home all the while paying for 4 train tickets.

Or, you can pay the 40 bucks and drive in yourself, thus being able to stay or leave as long as you wish, AND stop somewhere along the way on your way out of town if you'd like.

Thinking that preventing the construction of parking garages is going to stop people from driving to Fenway is foolhardy. A large portion of fans are always going to prefer that option.

[JumboBuc]

I love that this was broken up less than three hours ago into a "project thread" and a "Phase I thread", and already every single post in the "Phase I thread" except for the very first one is discussing the overall project beyond Phase I...

This is exactly why we shouldn't have multiple threads for the same project...

[dshoost88]

Originally Posted by FenwayResident

... do you think someone from the South Shore would drive to the commuter rail station, take the commuter rail into SS, red line to park, then D line to Fenway instead of driving straight in? What about people coming from the North West? IMO it's naively optimistic to think people would take such a a roundabout way when they could drive instead. It's not good urban planning to put your head in the sand and ignore demand that exists.

If you were taking the commuter rail to South Station, then why not just transfer to a commuter rail train going to Yawkey Station? I thought that was the whole point of Yawkey--improve commuter rail connectivity to the Fenway.

As for folks coming from the North/West, same thought on Yawkey. And if your commuter train goes to North Station, do a single transfer to the green line C branch there and get off at Hynes or Kenmore.

Hubway
Pedi-cab
Walk
MBTA bus
"T"
Commuter Rail
Uber/Lyft/Taxi

There are so many transportation alternatives to getting to Fenway Park, I think making it even easier to drive and park there is incredulously regressive. And this is from someone that has to come in all the way from Manchester, NH now.

The allure of Boston's built environment is that it is not a sea of parking lots and garages, but rather it oozes character. On that note, I think phase I mostly complements that.