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Image courtesy of WS Development
The Boston Red Sox and Newton-based WS Development are teaming up on plans for some of the biggest changes to the blocks surrounding Fenway Park since Babe Ruth played in Boston.
The development would span four different sites spanning nearly 5 acres, including a cluster of low-rise commercial buildings along Jersey Street and Brookline Avenue occupied by souvenir shops, bars and food vendors. It also includes an 0.8-acre parcel on Lansdowne Street occupied by a two-story parking garage, and an 0.8 acre parking lot at the corner of Brookline Avenue and David Ortiz Way already owned by the team.
The joint venture includes Fenway Sports Group Real Estate, WS Development and the D’Angelo family, founders of the ‘47 Brand sports merchandise company, and owners of a cluster of parcels on Jersey Street including their Red Sox team store.
The formal review with city development agencies will begin before the end of the year, WS Development said. Specifics of the size and type of uses were not disclosed. In a statement, Fenway Sports Group Principal Owner John Henry said the plans will include “beautiful, dynamic streetscapes that complement the character and significance of Fenway Park.”
WS joins a group of major developers including Samuels & Associates, Related Beal, Skanska, Meredith Management and Gerding Edlen that have replaced older commercial buildings and parking lots in the neighborhood with housing, offices, labs and retail space.
High-rise luxury housing replaced many of the older commercial buildings lining Brookline Avenue in the past two decades, and commercial developers have recently focused on the neighborhood as a destination for high-rent-paying office and life science projects.
Related Beal is redeveloping former Boston University buildings in Kenmore Square into class A office space, and Meredith Management received approval in March for a Massachusetts Turnpike air rights project including a pair of office and lab towers totaling 720,000 square feet.
The Red Sox ownership began maximizing its own real estate last fall with construction of the new MGM Music Hall at Fenway, a 5,000-seat concert venue being built on the former parking lot and back-of-the-house space behind the right field bleachers.
Founded in 1990, WS Development has been active in retail projects throughout the East Coast and raised its profile in Boston in 2015 with the acquisition of 12 acres in the Seaport District, where it’s developing office and lab buildings for Amazon and Foundation Medicine.
