Fenway Theater next to Fenway Park wins key approval, could start construction this fall

The Boston Planning & Development Agency on August 15 approved plans to plunk a 5,400-seat multipurpose performance venue next to Fenway Park. The venue’s backers—concert promoter Live Nation and an affiliate of the Red Sox’s ownership group—hope to start construction this fall, once the baseball season wraps.

The development would consume a triangular parcel at Ipswich and Lansdowne streets just beyond the famed ballpark in Fenway, and joins other new performance venues slated for Boston.

In a March BPDA filing, the developers described what they’ve dubbed the Fenway Theater as “state of the art” and as something that “is intended to fill a void in the landscape of performing arts venues in the greater Boston area by providing a facility whose capacity sits between venues that accommodate less than 2,500 patrons and the larger arena/stadium venues.”

The venue will host events year-round. And, to make room for it, the Sox ownership group plans to relocate current service, loading, and receiving activities from the triangular space to newly constructed, off-street, interior loading dock bays within the Fenway Garage.

What’s more, mail and ground-slash-concessions facilities that also occupy the site will be relocated to within the ballpark or moved elsewhere. The new venue is also expected to add event space and amenities behind the bleachers in Fenway Park itself. Stay tuned.