Fenway Park area slated to undergo massive $1.6B transformation after BPDA approval

The Fenway neighborhood is set to become even more of a cultural and economic hub within the next decade or so, with the Boston Planning and Development Agency supporting a whopping $1.6 billion project.

Fenway Corners, as the mixed-use development is called, will feature eight new large buildings around Fenway Park, taking up more than 1.5 million square feet. Offices, research and development labs, apartments, and retail and restaurant space are all included.

The BPDA approved the project’s 1.6 million square feet Thursday, more than two years after Fenway Sports Group partnered with nationally-known WS Development and local business group Twins Enterprises to spearhead the proposal.

The mixed-use development could gain an additional 500,000 square feet that the BPDA will vote on once the Fenway-Kenmore Transportation Action Plan is done.

Specifically, Fenway Corners will offer 266 residential units, 53 of them affordable, more than 40 new retail shops, creating opportunities for local small businesses, and 4.8 acres of public realm improvements, with one making Jersey Street into a “pedestrian-focused shared street.”

“The project has evolved and improved significantly, and it will greatly enhance some of the blighted areas around the park. It will create a more year-round destination,” said Michael Sinatra, a BPDA senior project manager leading the project.

Due to feedback from the Fenway community, the proponents created several key community initiatives, such as a 10,000-square-foot daycare center which will be available to all neighborhood residents, Sinatra said.

The daycare center will be housed in the largest building in the massive undertaking, a 19-story, 624,000-square-foot tower on what developers are calling the “Brookline Block.” Retail and restaurant space will also be situated on the ground floor and office and laboratory space on the upper floors.

Though the BPDA’s approval signaled a big step forward in the process, the project still needs to undergo governmental reviews and receive all necessary permits and approvals.

Each of the individual buildings is subject to review from BPDA design and the Boston Civic Design Commission, said Yanni Tsipis, senior vice president of WS Development.

Officials expect Fenway Corners to be fully constructed over a period of five to eight years, according to project documents.

“There is still a great deal of design review, opportunity for community engagement on a block-by-block basis,” Tsipis said. “Certainly that’s core to our philosophy: We are here, we are here for the long term, and we are very happy to engage.”

Fenway Corners received a mixed reaction from Dolores Boogdanian, president of Fenway’s Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association. She said she believes there’s many good aspects to the project but raised concerns around traffic.

“How cutting off Jersey Street and using walkways as an alternative could actually work, I think, is suspect without truly understanding the traffic impacts,” she said.