Curbed Cup 1st round: (6) Harvard Square vs. (11) Fenway

It’s time—time to pick the Boston area’s neighborhood of the year!

Here’s how the annual Curbed Cup works: We present two matchups a day during the first round. Polls stay open 24 hours for each one. The biggest vote-getter in each matchup advances to the second round.

We start with 16, and we whittle it down to one.

Got it? Good. Go!

(4) Harvard Square

Ralph.Torello/Flickr

Few areas in the region are changing as much and as fast right now as Cambridge’s Harvard Square. Here’s just a taste of the alterations:

• Its main plaza is getting revamped, including the kiosk that contains the Out of Town News newsstand;
• The long-shuttered Harvard Square Theatre is slated for redevelopment;
• The similarly named university there is renovating its student union and the plaza outside of it.
• There’s also the planned redevelopment of 5 John F. Kennedy and 18 Brattle streets, which, among other things, nearly croaked the world’s only Curious George store.
• Two major properties in the area are on sale—1-8 Brattle and 17-41A Brattle—and could fetch in the neighborhood of $100 million.

Meanwhile, Harvard Square remains one of the region’s most walkable neighborhoods.

(11) Fenway

Where to start with Fenway?

Once known primarily as simply the area around the identically named ballpark, the neighborhood of late has been slapping on new developments and residents.

Perhaps the most prominent of the year is Pierce Boston, the 30-story, 340-foot tower that is set to be Fenway’s tallest building—and one of the tallest in Massachusetts west of Back Bay—when it’s finished next year. Its 109 condo units (the building also includes some very luxury apartments) have proven very popular.

Moreover, there are the 17-story, 183,000-square-foot Harlo apartment tower and myriad smaller projects.

And, as for that synonymous ballpark, it could see some sizable changes, too.

• Harvard Square’s Out-of-Town News kiosk will finish year without ideas for its replacement [Curbed Boston]
• Harvard Square Theatre might be reborn as mixed-use building with movie screens [Curbed Boston]
• Harvard Square’s Curious George store to stay open under apparent long-term deal [Curbed Boston]
• Harvard Square buildings going up for sale, further changing Cambridge enclave [Curbed Boston]
• Boston’s 10 most walkable neighborhoods, explained [Curbed Boston]
• Pierce Boston’s 109 condos mostly sold as leasing starts on apartment component [Curbed Boston]
• Fenway’s Harlo opens with available apartments starting at $2,500/month [Curbed Boston]
• Fenway gas station would become 184-room hotel under new proposal [Curbed Boston]
• Pierce Boston’s 109 condos mostly sold as leasing starts on apartment component [Curbed Boston]
• Fenway Park dugout seating has city approval [Curbed Boston]