Two hotels containing 763 guest rooms would rise on the edge of Kenmore Square as the hospitality boom claims new ground in Boston.

Wellesley-based Mark Development and Buckminster Annex Corp. seek to redevelop four parcels totaling 1.1 acres on Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue with a pair of 24- and 19-story hotels.

The development team will seek zoning relief by applying under the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s planned development area mechanism, an overlay district which is available for large or complex projects on sites that are larger than 1 acre.

Although the parcels are under separate ownership and located on opposite sides of Beacon Street, the Boston zoning code doesn’t prohibit developers from pursuing a PDA in such a case, said Matthew Kiefer, a land use attorney at Goulston & Storrs.

“It’s not typical, but it’s not prohibited either,” Kiefer said. “There have been a handful of other PDAs that have included multiple parcels and ownership.”

The development site includes Buckminster Annex Corp.’s parking garage site  at 645, 651 and 655-665 Beacon St. totaling 40,408 square feet and Mark Development’s 6,030-square-foot parcel at 560-574 Commonwealth Ave., which contains a single-story bank branch.

The proposed height of the buildings could stir opposition from neighbors including the Boston Red Sox. The team submitted a letter last fall objecting to Trans National Properties’ “unacceptably tall” proposed 340-foot residential tower on Charlesgate West, which would be visible beyond the ballpark’s iconic left-field wall. Red Sox spokeswoman Zineb Curran said the team had no comment on the hotels proposal.

High-rise apartments have risen on former industrial and retail parcels near Kenmore Square in the past decade and the Fenway neighborhood has added a new class A office component with construction of Samuels & Assoc.’s 237,000-square-foot Van Ness office tower anchored by digital health specialist Optum. Developer Related Beal last year ground-leased a 335,000-square-foot, nine-building portfolio owned by Boston University on the outskirts of Kenmore Square but has not submitted redevelopment plans.

In a letter to the BPDA, Mark Development CEO Robert Korff said the project will create additional, badly-needed Boston hotel rooms at a range of price points.” Korff did not respond to a request for comment.

This article has been updated since it was originally published to include additional information about the requirements for planned development areas under the Boston zoning code.

763 Rooms In Kenmore Square Hotel Plan

by Steve Adams time to read: 2 min
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