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Here’s what you need to know about Boston-area development this week

Latest Critical Mass. roundup includes a new theater next to Fenway Park and big plans for the old Alexandra Hotel

Critical Mass. rounds up the week’s most notable Boston-area development news. This go-round includes a key vote on plans for the old Alexandra Hotel where the South End meets Roxbury and fresh renderings for a multi-building project in Allston.


A rendering of the planned Allston Square project in Allston. Rendering courtesy of City Realty

Developer City Realty released new renderings of its planned six-building project at Harvard Avenue and Cambridge Street in Allston. Dubbed Allston Square, it would include 341 housing units, including 237 condos and 104 rentals as well as live-work spaces and 9,000 square feet of public art space.

Rendering of the proposed Alexandra Hotel redevelopment. Courtesy of CBT Architects

Farther south, in the South End-Roxbury borderlands, a plan to gut and redevelop the old Alexandra Hotel at Massachusetts Avenue and Washington Street in the South End-Roxbury borderlands won unanimous approval from the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal. The project from a trio of developers is expected to create a 150-room boutique hotel with a ground-floor restaurant and rooftop amenity space.

Speaking of approvals, the Boston Planning & Development Agency signed off on plans for a 5,400-seat performance venue at Ipswich and Lansdowne streets next to Fenway Park. Construction could start this fall on what the venue’s backers—including an affiliate of the Red Sox ownership—have dubbed the Fenway Theater.

And, speaking of the BPDA, hundreds of pages of public comments that the agency released show that developer Oxford Properties’ plan for a 24-story tower on the site of a parking garage at 125 Lincoln Street in the Leather District is still proving quite controversial due to its scope.

Also BPDA-related, the agency voted to advance plans for a major development over the Massachusetts Turnpike between Boylston and Newbury streets. The so-called Parcel 12 development would include about 325,000 square feet of office space, 70,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 150,000 square feet of residential or hotel uses. Developer Samuels & Associates hopes to start construction in 2020.

A rendering of the new The Commons apartment complex in Somerville. Rendering Courtesy of Douglas Elliman

Finally, out of Boston proper and into Somerville, where the new The Commons at Prospect Hill, a 48-unit luxury apartment complex at the site of an old Sunoco off McGrath Highway, is starting to lease units. Two-bedrooms run as much as $6,000 a month.

Okay, back into Boston one last time. Can we talk about micro-hotels?