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

This project looks like nice infill. But, as a few keen skeptics have noted, the main tower will never be built by this developer–if given even 45 years.
 
I wonder why they didn't choose to do the main tower on the parking lot next door and the shorter one over the pike where it presumably would have been a less expensive deck.
 
Deetroyt said:
I wonder why they didn't choose to do the main tower on the parking lot next door and the shorter one over the pike where it presumably would have been a less expensive deck.
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I would guess its just the cost of the deck in general that they looked at and decided they needed height to recoup it at all. That said, I don't see the deck happening anyways (by design), so, yeah, they should have started the design with the tower on the parcel they actually intended to develop.
 
Or, they put the tall one on the air rights parcel because they knew they would never make that investment one way or the other. But, it makes the proposal look much more exciting than a couple stumps next to the highway. Deferring it to a future phase that will probably never happen, allows the overall proposal to look much sexier.

The original proposal here pre-dates the current building boom by quite some time, and is well before we started seeing bigger (taller) projects in neighborhoods outside the core. If they had proposed something tall here as phase 1, I doubt it would have had even the small amount of traction it has maintained. People weren't ready for that. But, a couple buildings 20-40% taller than what is there already, followed by something 20-40% taller than those is much more palatable than just going 100% bigger than what's existing.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
The original proposal here pre-dates the current building boom by quite some time, and is well before we started seeing bigger (taller) projects in neighborhoods outside the core. If they had proposed something tall here as phase 1, I doubt it would have had even the small amount of traction it has maintained. People weren't ready for that. But, a couple buildings 20-40% taller than what is there already, followed by something 20-40% taller than those is much more palatable than just going 100% bigger than what's existing.
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Yeah, these plans look about 10-15 years out of date to me, both in scale and in style.

"Building 1" looks like it's 7 stories above Beacon St and "Building 2" looks like 13 stories plus mechanicals. This is pretty much right in line with the neighbors (11 stories above Beacon across the street and 5-7 stories above Beacon down the street).

Also, 7 stories is a strange height. We see a bunch of buildings <=6 stories that use wood ("5+1") and then taller buildings that use steel and concrete. We don't see much in the 7-9 story range where you're too tall for wood but also not fully taking advantage of what your steel and concrete costs make possible.
 
Any one know whats going on in this area on the pike? It looks like they're either going to move traffic over so they can deck it, or they are adding a movable hov lane. Not sure which one, or if its something else completely.
 
Globe: Long-delayed Fenway Center project moves ahead

Boston Globe said:
The board of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Monday voted to let developer John Rosenthal build two apartment buildings on land he owns alongside the Turnpike near Fenway Park, before building a costly deck over the Pike itself for a 27-story tower that could help remake the neighborhood.

[...]

Now he has investors [...] and a plan to break ground in September.

[...]

In exchange for being allowed to delay the deck over the Turnpike, Rosenthal agreed to pay $21 million to the state before construction starts on the first phase.

[...]

If they don’t start construction on the second phase by the end of 2020, Rosenthal and Gerding Edlen will owe the state a $3 million penalty.
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Odds on the deck being built? 5:1? A $3M penalty doesn't seem like such a disincentive compared to the cost of building a deck and 27 floor tower.
 
JumboBuc said:
$3 million penalty plus $21 million sunk cost
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Isn't the $21MM just payment for the lease on the property for the first phase? Globe article is a little confusing on that and I can't find any details on the MassDOT site.
 
"The first phase of developer John Rosenthal’s Fenway Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike has been green-lighted by the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s board. The $590 million project, which has a two-phased construction plan, will begin with two mixed-use buildings on terra firma next to the Mass Pike.

The first two buildings, which would house 313 residential units and 67,000 square feet of commercial space, would build momentum for the project and make the more costly air-rights deck over the Mass Pike more financially attractive to future equity partners, the Newton-based developer said."

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2017/11/fenway_center_phase_1_ok_d

Anyone want to take odds on Phase 2 ever being built? 100-1?
 
Phase 2 is basically on top of a subway, commuter rail station and interstate hwy. How bout they cut the parking garage and save some money on the decking...
 
Don't wanna be a downer . . . but I feel like phase two is never going to happen and this whole project was maybe a pretext to get approval for phase 1. Which maybe is OK. Phase 1 looks dense, urban and well massed.

I dont understand how they could build a supermarket over the mass pike in suburban Newton in the 80's but now it is prohibitively expensive to deck, even in a much more valuable location.
 
navigator4 said:
"The first phase of developer John Rosenthal’s Fenway Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike has been green-lighted by the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s board. The $590 million project, which has a two-phased construction plan, will begin with two mixed-use buildings on terra firma next to the Mass Pike.

The first two buildings, which would house 313 residential units and 67,000 square feet of commercial space, would build momentum for the project and make the more costly air-rights deck over the Mass Pike more financially attractive to future equity partners, the Newton-based developer said."

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2017/11/fenway_center_phase_1_ok_d

Anyone want to take odds on Phase 2 ever being built? 100-1?
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It's dubious, but the empty lot on Beacon is an eyesore, so I'm happy enough about this.
 
Well, color me surprised that it's actually happening. Looks like to start it's buildings 1 and 2 in the image below:

c0VD031.jpg


Then buildings 3 and 4 to come at a later date (never?). Also, I'm pretty disappointed that the parking lot between Overland and Yawkey isn't being touched. Is that owned by someone else? Still, better than nothing.
 
Put me in the camp that will be happy with this project even if only Phase I gets completed. It'll still add two buildings' worth of housing and activate that wind-swept lot on Beacon.

FenwayResident said:
Also, I'm pretty disappointed that the parking lot between Overland and Yawkey isn't being touched. Is that owned by someone else? Still, better than nothing.
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That lot is owned by two men by the names of "John Henry" and "Thomas Werner". It's not in the scope of the Fenway Center project.

The Sox actually also own the land under Phase I of the Fenway Center project, but Rosenthal has the rights to develop it thanks to years (decades?) of land swaps and deals between him and the team.

The Sox have made some rumblings lately about early-stage plans to redevelop some of their vacant Fenway properties (they're looking at adding more bars/restaurants/entertainment venues and also new office space for the team), so hopefully some of those parking lots will be soon to go.
 
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