More Fenway Park Renovations

Is anything more planned? I recall Janet Marie Smith stepping down in August, saying that her work was basically complete at Fenway.
 
Justin7 said:
Resurrecting this thread. Anyone know what's planned for this off-season? New video screen? Anything major?
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They really do need a new screen. So does Gillette Stadium. Big, widescreen-like the Cowboys, except not in the way of the punts.
 
Boston Globe - August 29, 2009
It?s a wrap at Fenway
Renovations to ballpark complete, architect leaves for new challenges

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | August 29, 2009

Janet Marie Smith, the architect credited with saving Fenway Park, has left the team after an eight-year renovation that preserved the ballpark?s old-style aesthetic while introducing fan-friendly innovations such as the Green Monster seats and modern concessions.

Smith, who joined the Red Sox front office in 2002, stepped down because much of her work to transform America?s oldest and smallest ballpark is finished. During her tenure, the team increased Fenway?s capacity by 5,000, waterproofed its leaky bleachers, and reinforced foundations to last another 40 years.

?We?re going to miss her in Boston,?? Mayor Thomas M. Menino said of Smith, a Mississippi native. ?When she started, I thought she was just another of these smart architects. And she was a smart architect, but she also knew how to get the job done.??

Smith was brought to Fenway by Red Sox president Larry Lucchino at a time when there were loud calls for the demolition of the 1912 ballpark, which was creaky and cramped, and lacked the amenities of newer professional stadiums that spit fireworks and entertain fans with super graphics and massive jumbotrons.

The team of Lucchino, John Henry, and Tom Werner was the only one of five bidders for the Red Sox in 2002 that guaranteed the preservation of Fenway. They devised a plan with Smith to modernize and expand Fenway, while at the same time preserving its history, so that longtime fans would appreciate the improvements without really noticing them.

?Janet and I used to joke that anyone who was going to do work related to the ballpark was going to have to take the Fenway Hippocratic oath, with the first rule being, ?to do no harm,? ?? Lucchino said yesterday. ?She helped us do these renovation in a way that was artful as well as respectful to Fenway?s traditions.??

Smith, whose departure was first reported yesterday in The Boston Courant, is now working on renovations to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., among other projects, Lucchino said. She could not be reached for comment yesterday. The New York Times Co,. parent of the Boston Globe, has a 17.75 percent stake in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox.

Smith has spent her career rehabilitating historic buildings and enhancing the role of sports complexes in urban development. From 1989 to 1994, she spearheaded construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where she worked under Lucchino, at the time the team?s chief executive, to construct a modern ballpark with an old-fashioned ambience.

She also transformed the 1996 Olympic Stadium into a new ballpark for the Atlanta Braves, and led the development of Philips Arena, which is the home of the NBA?s Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL.

At Fenway, one of her first major changes was the introduction of seats atop the Green Monster in 2003. The viewpoint brought a breathtaking new dimension to the ballpark, as well as premium seating that warranted $160-per-seat prices.

While some changes have added layers of exclusivity to the ballpark, others have made it more accessible for average fans. Along the left field line, she built ?Coca-Cola Corner,?? replacing luxury suites built for the 1999 All-Star game with a 100-person, standing-room section and 412 pavilion-level seats.

The renovations, which have cost more than $150 million, also included demolition of the glass-encased .406 club, the addition of 574 roof-box seats in right field, new concourses and plumbing, in-seat dining service, and new concession menus that feature everything from barbecued turkey legs to shrimp rolls.

Lucchino said yesterday that most of the work is completed, with only additional waterproofing and concession upgrades planned in the coming months. He said much of the current focus is on preparing the park for the NHL?s ?Winter Classic,?? an outdoor hockey game to be played at Fenway in the upcoming season.

?We?re putting on the finishing touches,?? Lucchino said. ?We?ve been assured by our architects and engineers that this work will keep us enjoying Fenway for the next 30 or 40 years.??

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
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sidewalks said:
I'm delighted the sox are so successful these days and there is no doubt that the current ownership group is a savvy bunch and cares about the legacy and history of the team. They have also developed an enormous number of new revenue streams, but I find it depressing that the ballpark is papered with gaudy advertisements. In the 1980s the monster and the rest of the walls along the field of play were untouched by ads. Fenway is such a great place but those ads really detract from its beauty. I can't imagine that the revenue generated by those ads amounts to anything more than the salary of a journeyman middle reliever.
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If you tour Fenway, the guide will talk about the history of the Green Monster. Originally it was a low wall with a small hill behind it, like any other park. The owner, a money-hungry fiend, apparently, put up a big, huge wall to prevent non-ticket-holders from seeing a Sox game. He then plastered his big wall with advertisemnts to make more money. So, you see, the Green Monster has always had ads, as its original purpose was to be a billboard/view blocker.
 
It would be more accurate to say that the wall went from having ads, to having no ads, and back to having ads again.

Where was this 'hill' ? The wall is directly against the sidewalk on Lansdowne Street.
 
From the Red Sox site:

Fenway Park's peculiar dimensions were not intended to provide a tempting target for home run hitters, but to keep non-paying customers out of the park.

In left field, there was a steep 10-foot embankment that ran in front of the wall where fans were allowed to sit. The Sox' Duffy Lewis was so skilled at playing balls hit to the ledge that it became known as Duffy's Cliff.
Fires at Fenway

Fenway Park remained unchanged until a May 8, 1926 fire destroyed bleachers along the left field line. John Quinn, the owner at the time, simply carted the charred remains out of the park; because of a lack of funds, he didn't bother to rebuild the bleachers. Left fielders didn't complain ? they were able catch foul balls for outs behind the stands.

Tom Yawkey, who bought the financially strapped club in 1933, began a major overhaul of the park. The revitalization project, however, came to a screeching halt on January 5, 1934 when a second fire ravaged the building for five hours. Few areas of the ballpark were left undamaged.

Construction crews worked diligently to reconstruct the ballpark in time for the season opener on April 17, 1934. And when Fenway Park did open that day, it had a new look.

Concrete bleachers replaced the wood bleachers in centerfield. Duffy's Cliff was leveled off ? though not completely. And the 37-foot wooden left field wall was replaced by a more durable, 37-foot sheet metal structure. In 1936, a 23-1/2-foot tall screen was added on top of the wall to better protect the windows of buildings on adjoining Lansdowne Street. When the wall's advertisements were covered by green paint in 1947, Fenway Park's signature feature ? the Green Monster ? was born.
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I believe the hill was actually in front of the wall, not behind.

Also, I seem to recall hearing that a new video screen was supposed to be installed last off-season, but that it was put off a year, so I assumed it would be going in now. Maybe I misunderstood or they decided to shelve it indefinitely.
 
I think she forgot to replace the blue grandstand seats with seats that people can actually sit in for a couple hours without injuring their body.

Despite this, fenway has improved a great deal.
 
Slightly different info than what is being talked about right now, but Fenway Park is Not a homerun hitter's park, it actually robs a lot of homeruns. The thing is that it does have two types of "cheap homeruns", 298 ft ones that wrap around Pesky Pole in right, and fly balls down the left line that would be a warning track out on most other ball parks. But if you go 6 feet over from the right field line, and it is 380 ft, easily on the longest distance for a ball to travel to dead right. Also the most balls that go over the monster are homeruns in other parks anywase, but there have been thousands of line-drives off that wall that are homeruns anywhere else, some times it's a 500 ft hr turned into a single. Also 420 triangle pocket in center is quite deep, so the next time some dude says Fenway homers are a joke, get accurate on them.
 
So this is as good a place as any to give a review of the ESPN Zone in NYC. We were down there last weekend to take my nieces to see 'Mamma Mia', their first Broadway show. (It wasn't my choice but they couldn't agree on what to see so it was the default choice. It was horrible. Even they thought so.)

The ESPN Zone is successful in what it attempts to do. It's located on a corner of Times Square, 42nd and 7th, if I'm not mistaken. The street-level is a restaurant. It was kind of dark, which is kind of weird. There are a bunch of tables and a whole wall of TV screens of various sizes showing por- I mean, sports. There's also a bar on that floor, I think. We only stopped for a second because we wanted to get to the top floor.

On the way up we went past the second floor, which is really a mezzanine. It's pretty cool - it's sort of set up as something you'd see on the second level of a sports stadium - open air seats in a half-circle overlooking the wall of TVs that you see from the first-level. It's very similar to the sports betting rooms in Las Vegas in style, but not dark and creepy. (Of course, there's no smoking in the restaurant, anywhere.) There's a bar on that floor and/or waitress service.

The first floor seemed to be a mix of families / tourists, etc., although there didn't seem to be any type of organization - they sat people wherever there was room. So, adults weren't sectioned off. This was during the day, however, so there were lots of kids / teens. It may be completely different, at night.

The third / top floor is made up of an arcade and a second dining room. The arcade is similar in style to Jillian's, on Lansdowne Street (is it open, anymore?). Lots of games - shooting and car-driving and motorcycle driving - I think most were geared toward "sports". There's even a bowling alley. There was at least one bar and I believe you could order at the bar and walk around with beer. It was a mix of guys and kids.

We played some games and then ate in that floor's restaurant. We had good seats next to the windows which are floor to ceiling. You can't really see the center of Times Square from there but it's still a good view. There are, of course, TV screens all around you turned to different stations (they don't just show ESPN network channels).

The food was typical American fare - something you'd get at Applebees, etc. It was fine. They had 16 oz and 25 oz drafts and it was easy to convince me to have the 25 oz. It made it easier to waste the afternoon going to and from the Statue of Liberty island.

My assessment is that this would work quite well in Boston. I honestly don't know if you'd get enough traffic on a regular day to make it work. Location would be very important and the logical spots would be Lansdowne Street / Fenway or Faneuil Hall. The tricky part is - would you get enough traffic to keep it going and how big would it be? If it was small, it wouldn't feel as much "fun"; I've never had that much fun at Jillians, for example. Or, I should say, going once every ten years is about enough.

Times Square is unique in that there are literally thousands of new customers walking through the square, each day. Boston wouldn't have that type of clientele. If it's just an "event" type of place (bachelor parties, before/after ball game, day in Boston kind of thing) it wouldn't be that successful, I don't think.

Again, the night-time scene might be completely different. It comes across a bit antiseptic, so I don't think it becomes a bar-crawl kind of place, at night. I don't know if they get people cheering or that sort of thing.

Anyone else have thoughts?
 
A friend of mine who works in Times Sq is always joking about taking clients there. He doesn't joke about doing it, he goes all the time, but he isn't a sports person at all and the hole thing, which you described perfectly, just seems bizarre to us.
 
I'd be strongly against a Fenway location for baseball purist reasons only. Anything the ESPN name tagged to it would ruin the sanctity of Fenway Park, somehow. (NESNZone anyone? LOLOL)
 
Jillians is indeed still open and is usually packed at night.

I hate to say this...but an espn zone, in Boston would be best found by the waterfront, near fan pier. Second choice would be near the garden. Fenway already has enough sports bars.
 
ESPN Zone is something that fat tourists from Kansas City get excited about, which is why it works in Times Square.

It doesn't add anything that doesn't already exist in Boston in some better or more unique and local way. No need.
 
I've said before they should put one in Boston. I agree that near Fenway wouldn't work, but near the Garden or in the Seaport would work. Tourists love national chains. They can get what they're familiar with. Conventioneers would love ESPN Zone, as would every suburban family to ever visit Boston. Not to mention businessmen taking clients. It would be successful, no doubt. Would it be a great and unique addition to the Boston culinary scene? Probably not. Doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
 
I think they love national chains in the context of New York, where they've come for the excitement of Times Square's overcommercialization. Immersion in hypercapitalism and sensory overload makes sense there.

But anywhere else, why eat somewhere you could go to at home?

I'm not sure why any tourist to Boston would choose one over someplace like the Union Oyster House or Durgin Park. If I were in Boston for sports purposes, I'd much prefer a bar soaked in local nostalgia, like Fours on Canal St. Businessmen would surely want to impress clients with somewhere more interesting/unique. I can maybe see kids from suburban New England getting psyched about it, but if that's the target, it should be in the suburbs with them and the rest of the chains.
 
I was in Manhattan last weekend too, visiting my sister who lives on Bleecker St, near the now closed Circle in the Square Theatre . It was amazing coming back from drinks at 1 am and just loafing around in Washington Sq and Fr. Demo Square. Sure, we can bitch that 42nd St is for that fat tourist from flyover, but on balance, Manhattan is a much more graceful place than it was in Taxi Driver days.
 
I think the people who lament the loss of the Taxi Driver days don't exactly think "graceful" is an adjective that should be used in the context of Manhattan, either.
 
Boston Globe - March 30th, 2010
Subtle changes spruce up Fenway Park
Expanded menus, refurbished seats mark new season

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | March 30, 2010

Among Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino?s many ceremonial duties, yesterday?s annual spring rite at Fenway Park may be the hardest to swallow: part of a lobster roll, a bite of funnel cake, and half a double cheeseburger.

It was only midmorning, but the mayor ordered longtime aide Michael Galvin to down a fully loaded Fenway Frank.

And Red Sox executive Larry Lucchino pressured everyone to keep eating: There were meatball subs, brick-oven pizza, a chicken Parmesan sandwich, a spicy veggie burger, and a veggie hot dog nestled in a grilled New England-style bun.

?Veggie dogs??? Menino asked, arching his eyebrows like a slugger caught looking at a curve ball.

Expanded menus at concession stands are part of the subtle array of offseason changes fans may notice on Sunday night when the 99th baseball season opens at Fenway Park.

Other enhancements include new seats with cup holders in the left field dugout area, field boxes, and loge boxes.

And the roughly 12,000 blue wooden seats ? the last remaining wooden seats in Major League Baseball ? have been refurbished with springs so they pop up when fans rise, ending that painful tradition of whacking one?s knees on seats left in the down position.

The changes this offseason are ?less sexy than in the past but very appealing to some of our fans,?? said Lucchino, president and chief executive officer of the Red Sox.

?We?ve got better circulation in the ballpark, new stairways, and other things that make moving around the ballpark easier.??

Workers have also repaired and waterproofed the 76-year-old concrete in the lower left field seating bowl, an infrastructure improvement Lucchino said was needed ?so we can have Fenway Park for another 30 to 40 years.??

The most noticeable physical change took place below the seats directly behind home plate, where a narrow walkway once clogged with standing-room-only spectators has been opened into an airy, L-shaped concession area.

Work crews moved bathrooms to another level to create the space, which includes a brick oven for the $6.50 meatball sub, $6.75 chicken Parmesan sandwich, and $4.75 slices of pizza.

New, larger restrooms more than doubled toilet facilities behind home plate from 25 to 54, including two family units that are handicapped accessible. In the men?s room, environmentally friendly waterless urinals sit below windows that offer patrons a bird?s-eye view of Yawkey Way.

The offseason work also added a new row of grandstand seats behind sections 29, 30, and 31.

And crews recently resodded the entire playing field, a consequence of hosting the NHL?s Winter Classic, which put an ice rink on top of the grass. (Red Sox officials say they had anticipated having to replace the turf.)

Another change this season by the food services company Aramark will send vendors into the stands hawking sausages, reducing the need for hungry carnivores to leave their seats.

At concession stands, the veggie hot dogs and spicy veggie hamburgers give non-meat-eaters something at the ballpark that will stand up to ketchup or mustard. Aramark offered similar veggie products in the late 1990s, but sales were slow.

This winter, the company held several blind taste tests at Fenway Park and settled on a $5 meatless hot dog and a $6.50 veggie burger with just enough spice to give it a little kick, said Kevin Haggerty, district manager for Aramark.

For the record, the mayor has nothing against vegetable products, including garden dogs.

In fact, his administration has pushed local restaurants to offer low-fat alternatives approved by nutritionists.

?I order veggie burgers all the time,?? Menino said yesterday. ?It?s good for people to have these new, healthier options.??

But the mayor himself, in his official tasting duties, stuck to a New England classic.

?The lobster roll is pretty good,?? he said. ?It had real lobster in it.??
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