Fenway Center Mixed-Use Development Gets Go-Ahead

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Boston—After a number of years in development limbo, the first phase of the long-delayed Fenway Center development has been given the green light for construction. The five-building community received the final approval from Boston’s Department of Transportation following more than five years of legal wrangling.

The directors of the department signed off on a 99-year lease on 4.5 acres of land and air rights, around the intersection of Brookline and Beacon, to facilitate the development. Currently the site sports parking lots.

The multifamily component of the project will be around 550 units. The development will also include a 27-story office tower, as well as an unspecified amount of retail space.

Now preliminary work could begin on as early as this fall, with actual construction beginning next year. Designed by architecture and master planning firm the Architectural Team for Boston developer John Rosenthal, the mixed-use development will also count as TOD, because of its location adjacent to the new Yawkey Commuter Rail Station.

According to the Architectural Team, the plan “respects the urban grid” and adds significant green spaces. Fenway Center will feature one of the largest private solar power plants in Massachusetts, and the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority’s first net-zero-energy train station.