Patriot Place, a 1.3 million-square-foot lifestyle and entertainment center that is shown above in an artist’s rendering, is being built near Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
For fans, MVP means Most Valuable Player. But to developers, it could mean Most Valuable Property.
Stadium owners are discovering that mixed-use developments combining retail, office and housing could be big moneymakers. While some projects have met resistance as opponents criticize the use of public funds for private enterprise, developers and team owners say the area adjacent to a stadium should not be empty when the team is out of town.
“It’s very important that the stadium support and encourage other types of uses,” said Ted Fire, director of project administration for The Kraft Group, whose assets include Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution. “Once the stadium was built, we turned our attention to how best maximize the use of the 700-acre site, 365 days a year.”
The Foxboro-based company has launched Patriot Place, a 1.3 million-square-foot lifestyle and entertainment center located near the stadium. The complex will include a 14-screen movie theater, office space, a hospital specializing in sports medicine, a 150-room Marriott Renaissance Hotel and more than 70 retailers. One of the anchors, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, is scheduled to open in November. The 150,000-square-foot superstore will feature a waterfall, aquarium and pools that will showcase native fish.
The Kraft Group is not alone. The region’s two other major players in the realm of sports – Delaware North Cos., which owns the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, and the Boston Red Sox – also have plans. In a presentation last week titled “Play Ball! Sports Stadiums as Economic and Real Estate Drivers” sponsored by the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, representatives from the Kraft Group, Red Sox and Delaware North outlined plans for their properties.
John Wentzell, president of Delaware North, described the 2.2 million square feet of development adjacent to the TD Banknorth Garden currently under consideration. He said the company is pursuing a mixed-use concept that will contain multilevel retail, commercial office space, a hotel and up to 350 condominiums.
The project’s first phase, a 32-story residential tower, was approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority last year, but Wentzell declined to say when construction would commence. A BRA spokeswoman said Delaware North has had difficulty getting the project financing given the downturn in the condo market.
Wentzell noted that the 415-foot-high residential tower on Nashua Street will offer views of Boston Harbor, the Charles River and the Financial District. The new condos will compete with Trinity Financial’s Avenir, a 241-unit project to be built nearby on Canal Street in the city’s Bulfinch Triangle.
“Our vision has not changed since the beginning,” Wentzell said. “We have always wanted to create a lively and substantial real estate project anchoring this end of the city.”
‘A Gateway Location’
The storied Boston Garden opened in 1928 and for more than 60 years was the place to see historic performances and make sports memories. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones played there and the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins won championships there. The facility was infamous for several design flaws including seating obstructed by cement pillars. It was razed in the late 1990s and replaced with the $170 million FleetCenter, which since has been renamed the TD Banknorth Garden.
Today, Delaware North has plans for a pair of sites adjacent to the building: a parcel located to the south that abuts on Causeway Street where the old Garden stood, and the smaller lot on Nashua Street.
“We’re a gateway location,” Wentzell said. “It’s a very dynamic site from the standpoint of traffic and pedestrian flow with 13 million commuters coming through North Station, as well as up to 3 million Garden fans Â… these projects don’t happen because the Bruins, Celtics or Bono and U2 play the Garden, but it helps.”
Michael Dee, chief operating officer for the Boston Red Sox, said when Fenway Park was built in the heart of the city’s Fenway neighborhood in 1912, it was expected that “great things” would happen around the ballpark.
“But whatever reason, for 95 years that didn’t happen,” said Dee. “First, there was lots of uncertainty about what should go there. Back then it was a place for car dealers and radio stations – uses without much street vitality. Later, there was doubt about whether a new park would be built elsewhere, so it caused a certain degree of paralysis.”
Under Red Sox principal owner John Henry, the team has made a commitment to stay. As a result, Janet Marie Smith, senior vice president of planning and development for the Sox, has championed a number of changes to bring more street life to the park.
Last month, the Sox selected nightclub czar Patrick Lyons, owner of Game On!, to open a pub under the bleachers at Fenway Park that would spill onto Lansdowne Street year-round. In addition, the team is seeking to turn the 8,000-square-foot former site of radio station WBCN-FM into a restaurant that would have outdoor seating on Boylston Street.
“Our goal is to make sure that we preserve what’s great about Fenway Park and bring the charm of Newbury Street to the streets around the park,” said Dee. “The idea is to make Fenway a 365-day-a-year experience.”
Still, the prospect of creating a new environment around the park is not easy, especially for owners whose primary business is winning world championships.
“We are not developers,” said Dee. “We would rather get up in the morning [and think about] being four games up [in the American League East standings] with 16 games to go, rather than think about real estate.”
