This artist’s rendering depicts a view of One Kenmore, a $400 million residential and retail development over the Massachusetts Turnpike between Kenmore Square and Fenway Park in Boston, from the Yawkey MBTA station. The project has won the support of Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
Thumbs up.
“I’ve looked at it and there’s been considerable improvement on the design since the last iteration,” Menino told Banker & Tradesman. “It’s a little smaller and it’s moving forward.”
The idea to connect Kenmore Square and the city’s Fenway neighborhood emerged a decade ago when Newton developer John Rosenthal proposed a complex of stores, restaurants and a hotel for Lansdowne Street and the area above the turnpike.
Since then, the project has emerged with a new name and a number of revisions. The latest plan for the property, dubbed One Kenmore, offers 1.3 million square feet of development on four so-called air-rights parcels that straddle the turnpike. Among the changes are a smaller number of condominiums in four low-rise buildings instead of two towers, according to sources close to the negotiations.
If approved, the project would be built on 75,000 square feet of land bounded by Brookline Avenue and Maitland and Beacon streets including the Yawkey commuter rail station parking lot and 85,000 square feet of air rights. A steel deck would cover the turnpike where a portion of the development would sit, similar to Copley Place. A parking garage would be wrapped by housing so that it is not seen from the street. The design includes a refurbished Yawkey MBTA station.
‘Very Responsive’
Rosenthal, president of Meredith Management Corp., declined to discuss the latest plan, saying only that the project first must be approved by the Citizens Advisory Committee, an 11-member panel appointed by Menino, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, owner of the air rights parcels.
Jessica Shumaker, a BRA spokeswoman, declined to comment or provide details.
Jonathan M. Carlisle, a Turnpike Authority spokesman, said officials have been working out the details of a final accord. “We are in discussions with the Rosenthal group to put together an agreement that would have to be approved by our board,” he said. “We are still in negotiations, so I can’t speculate on the details or when the deal will be signed.”
The CAC is planning to meet in August for a vote on the project, according to one source. At the same time, an agreement between Rosenthal and the turnpike could be reached by summer’s end, another source added.
Jack Creighton, a CAC member and president of the Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association, an advocacy group whose mission is to preserve the area between Park Drive and Kenmore Square, said he is pleased with the downsized version of One Kenmore.
“John Rosenthal has been very responsive and recognized that some of the massing and the height was a little too close to the residential buildings of Audubon Circle and he moved it back,” said Creighton. “There’s no longer an abrupt transition into our historic neighborhood.”
Creighton said he fears Audubon Circle could bear the brunt of the impact of anything built above the turnpike. He noted that the neighborhood association is in the process of developing priorities for the traffic flow in and out of the area in anticipation of the development.
“We are ground zero for traffic,” Creighton added. “But we understand there will be changes as the city moves forward and grows. We are very grateful that the mayor and the BRA have made sure that the neighborhood is represented in these discussions.”
Unlike Columbus Center, the city’s other air-rights project in the South End that has been stalled by financial woes and community opposition, Rosenthal’s proposal appears to have won over the neighborhoods surrounding the ballpark.
Still, perhaps the most contentious issue for One Kenmore will be parking. William Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said his group supports dense development in the area but has vowed a fight over “too much” parking.
“We will oppose excessive parking that will only exacerbate an already congested part of the city,” he said.
Any project that gets built will require the support of Menino, who is known to make or break projects. Developers say privately that without the mayor’s support, the BRA, an independent agency, will not provide the approvals needed to build. For example, Menino withdrew support in December for a 22-story dorm that Suffolk University hoped to build on Beacon Hill. The project was opposed by the neighborhood.
But other opponents have not been so fortunate. Menino backed an over-55 retirement community geared toward gays and lesbians on Miner Street near Kenmore Square. Neighbors insisted that the developers heed the area’s 5-story building limit, but the BRA later approved a compromise at 7.5 stories, down from 9 stories. Meanwhile, opponents of Lovejoy Wharf – a 14-story project on North Washington St. – say they have been unable get the mayor’s ear.
The 2.5-mile Boston extension to the turnpike was built in the 1960s to improve traffic into the city. But in doing so, the road created a barrier between neighborhoods. Development of so-called air rights – the right to build on decking above the road – was devised to reconnect neighborhoods and provide economic benefits for the communities on the turnpike.
Rosenthal has had high hopes to develop the gritty area around Fenway Park since 1992, when his company purchased a parking garage on Lansdowne Street.
In 1999, Rosenthal had a partnership with actor Robert Redford and General Cinema Theaters for an 11-screen, $40 million Sundance Cinemas behind Fenway Park. The 60,000-square-foot complex was to include a restaurant, screening rooms and a film library. But the deal later fell through when the parties could not agree on terms of the project.
Following competitive bidding in 2002, the Turnpike Authority – which controls the air rights above the toll road – selected Rosenthal to develop parcels 8, 9 and 10, which are above the turnpike and bordered by Brookline Avenue and Lansdowne, Newbury and Beacon streets.
Last year, the Turnpike Authority issued a Request for Proposals for an adjacent 2.7-acre site known as Parcel 7. Rosenthal was the only applicant and he is expected to be the designated developer later this summer, a source said.
