Red Sox / BRA Land Swap

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Hutchison

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Not necessarily a development per se...but fairly big news anyway. From the BBJ:

"Red Sox, BRA ink $7.3M land-swap deal"

by: Craig Douglas

The Boston Red Sox and city planning officials have inked a multi-step deal that will see the ball club pay $7.34 million for permanent ownership and permitting rights around sections of Fenway Park. In return, the city will acquire a nondiscript connector road now owned by the Sox and considered a key to the future planning potential of the Fenway neighborhood.

Sources familiar with the deal said the proposal will be submitted for a vote before the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s board Thursday night. A vote of approval will give the BRA the green light to close the transaction with the Red Sox.

A BRA spokeswoman confirmed that the agreement is in fact in place but declined to offer additional details.

According to a city official close to the matter, the transaction will consist of three steps, if approved. First, the Red Sox will pay the BRA $4.8 million to acquire a permanent easement to close off Yawkey Way — the main thoroughfare bordering the front entrance to the ballpark — for city-permitted events 120 times per year. The team currently blocks off Yawkey Way before and after ballgames as well as for a handful of concerts throughout the year. The team plays 81 home games per season, not including post-season appearances.

Second, the Red Sox will pay another $2.5 million to permanently acquire the air rights above its third-row seats and standing-room-only section of the Green Monster bordering Lansdowne Street. A person familiar with the agreement said the team does not plan to expand the Monster seating or use the new air rights to reconfigure its existing layout, but rather prefers the deal over its existing 10-year air-rights lease arrangement with the city.

Third, the BRA and Red Sox have agreed to allow the city to use its powers of eminent domain to acquire from the team a parcel to create Richard Ross Way, a single-lane street connecting Boylston Street to Van Ness Street. In return the city will pay the Sox $2.6 million.

A person close to the transaction said the area earmarked for Richard Ross Way is a highly valued corridor in the fast-changing Fenway neighborhood and that a transfer of its control to the city will likely unlock even more commercial development going forward.

Following the completion of an extensive rezoning effort in 2004, the Fenway area has seen rapid change and development, including construction of the $200 million mixed-use Trilogy project and the $100 million mixed-use 1330 Boylston project. Currently, there are more than $900 million in projects in the pipeline slated for Boylston Street that will add over 1,000 units of new housing, the BRA reports.
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120 times a year? For what...getting the Celtics to break their lease on the Garden and come play up Kenmore way???
 
Eighty-one home games, up to 11 postseason games, say 8 concert dates at increasing booking levels... That gets you to 100 without getting into Winter Classic type events, occasional college or minor league games, special events for season ticket holders or ticket buyers, and on and on. That number has to strike some balance between "We don't ever want to have to sit down to permit another event for these specific spaces around the park" and "We don't want to terrify the neighborhood into thinking that Lucchino can just walk down here with traffic cones and his two middle fingers any time he wants." Even though, let's be honest, he can and does.

Edit: and don't forget rainouts, those bastions of revenue and schedule uncertainty.
 
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Why is building this "Richard Ross way" so important? Is that basically where the HoJo is right now?
 
Who is Richard Ross and why is he having his way?
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
120 times a year? For what...getting the Celtics to break their lease on the Garden and come play up Kenmore way???
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We could very well be hearing talk of a new arena in Boston for the Celtics and/or Bruins in the next 7 or 8 years. The TD Garden is turning 18 years old in a week and a half. But I guess that's talk for a different thread.
 
mass88 said:
We could very well be hearing talk of a new arena in Boston for the Celtics and/or Bruins in the next 7 or 8 years. The TD Garden is turning 18 years old in a week and a half. But I guess that's talk for a different thread.
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I dont think there is a chance in hell a new arena would go here. It would kill many of the businesses up by the current Garden. That and Fenway will eventually need to be replaced in our lifetime. Does this land swap give the FSG a large enough parcel to sell with the current tea as land for a potential new stadium...?
 
mass88 said:
We could very well be hearing talk of a new arena in Boston for the Celtics and/or Bruins in the next 7 or 8 years. The TD Garden is turning 18 years old in a week and a half. But I guess that's talk for a different thread.
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I don't see the Bruins or Celtics moving from their current location. If they are going to get a new arena, then they are going to put it in the same place.

I think a more interesting discussion is where a new Red Sox ballpark would go as brought up above. I don't see Fenway Park being torn down, there is no way that would be allowed to happen.
 
Richard Ross, of the Ross family and a major civic presence in Boston, was the owner of the existing building on Boylston Street housing the Subway and the post office, which will eventually be torn down as part of the redevelopment. He was killed on 9/11.
 
Interesting that the Red Sox are agreeing to a "friendly taking" as a mechanism for the city to acquire the land. Must be title problems?
 
greenwayguy1982 said:
Richard Ross, of the Ross family and a major civic presence in Boston, was the owner of the existing building on Boylston Street housing the Subway and the post office, which will eventually be torn down as part of the redevelopment. He was killed on 9/11.
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So this is basically going to be a road right next to the Target being built on 1347 Boylston? How does that add any value to the neighborhood?
 
Walking back along Yawkey Way after the game on Tuesday, I was amazed that they still have parking lots which dump cars onto that street. It's completely packed with people from wall-to-wall. Stupid suckers who paid $40 to park there had to wait. Even Brookline Ave overflows with pedestrians. I guess I've seen this before in past years but I never really took note.

I remember in SF the cops just close off part of Third to accommodate the huge flow of people in and out of AT&T park.
 
John Henry doesn't even own the paper yet and already the Globe/Boston.com has a conflict of interest in its reporting.
 
In the city's vision, Richard Ross way will create block porosity, which actually is a neighborhood benefit. Their plan is to eventually extend it all the way to Brookline Ave at Overland Street. Maybe its all part of the evil red sox plan to give an alternative route to yawkey way.
 
gyro said:
Their plan is to eventually extend it all the way to Brookline Ave at Overland Street. Maybe its all part of the evil red sox plan to give an alternative route to yawkey way.
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Wouldn't they have to demolish at least one or two buildings for that?
 
Richard B. Ross Way (private way), Boston Proper, providing access between Boylston Street and Van Ness Street located generally between Kilmarnock Street and Yawkey Way.
 
They would only need to demolish one building if they line it up with either that ally the parking people use or Ralph's Way.

Also why is Boston building Rick Ross Way?
 
Proposition Joe said:
They would only need to demolish one building if they line it up with either that ally the parking people use or Ralph's Way.

Also why is Boston building Rick Ross Way?
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Pretty sure it is being built as part of the Target project by Samuels. Curiouis as to why the city and not Samuels bought the land.
 
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