Fenway Center construction can start immediately, MassDOT says

Construction can start “immediately” on the five-building, 1.1 million-square-foot Fenway Center development where Brookline and Commonwealth avenues meet in Boston’s Kenmore Square area.

That is according to a December 7 announcement from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which just closed a $21 million, 99-year lease with developers John Rosenthal and Gerding Edlen.

Recall that Rosenthal has been trying to build on the 4.5-acre state-owned site for some 20 years. Financing and logistical issues have gotten in the way (plans call for building over the Massachusetts Turnpike—not the easiest feat).

With the lease-closing, though, Rosenthal and Gerding Edlen can commence construction work on the project’s first phase: Two buildings with 312 apartments as well as retail and office space and a direct pedestrian walkway from what will be Fenway Center to the Yawkey commuter rail station and a 1,200-space parking lot.

MassDOT said in its announcement that “logistics for the project’s construction will begin to be put in place on site next week.” Stay tuned. The developers are required to close a lease with the state for the Phase II site by 2020. And that’s the phase that’s going over the turnpike.

• Oft-stalled Fenway Center could start construction real soon [Curbed Boston]