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Plans outlined to transform area around Fenway Park

Fenway Sports Group Real Estate (FSGRE), a division of Boston Red Sox ownership group Fenway Sports Group, has partnered with WS Development to transform the area near Fenway Park, the Major League Baseball team’s home stadium.

The Boston Globe newspaper reports that the plans centre on a five-acre project that will include office space, apartment buildings, retail stores and green space. The site on which the project would be built is owned by FSGRE and the D’Angelo family, which owns sportswear company ’47 Brand.

WS Development will work with FSGRE and the D’Angelos on design and construction plans for the project, details of which were provided to local officials yesterday (Monday). Specific details relating to cost and infrastructure still require finalising.

The Globe notes that FSG has been purchasing land near Fenway Park while carrying out renovation work at the stadium itself, which is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball.

The group that will spearhead the project includes Red Sox president and chief executive Sam Kennedy, ’47 Brand vice-president Bobby D’Angelo and WS Development chief executive Jeremy Sclar.

Kennedy said: “We are not some joint venture that is just looking to maximise height or density. We want to create value, but we have to make sure we do no harm to Fenway Park and the fan experience.”

In a statement reported by the Globe, FSG principal owner John Henry said: “For 20 years, our goal has been to preserve, protect, and enhance the local and national treasure that is Fenway Park.

“We are excited to now fully expand our focus through a partnership with WS and the D’Angelo family as we further contribute to a neighbourhood that has transformed over the past two decades.”

Sclar added: “We’re thinking out five, 10, 20 years. We have conviction in the city; the city has an amazing future. This project will be built and open after (the pandemic) is a bad memory.”

Full details of the plans are expected to be laid out in 2021, according to the Globe.

FSG was last year granted approval to build a new concert venue next to Fenway Park. FSG is working with sports and entertainment giant Live Nation to deliver the 5,400-seat venue, which would be called Fenway Theater.

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