Boylston Street hotel near Fenway Park wins key approval

An eight-story, 184-room hotel is due to replace the Shell gas station and parking lot at 1241 Boylston Street near Fenway Park in Fenway. The Boston Planning and Development Agency signed off on the project on August 15.

The 184,000-square-foot development is also due to include 4,600 square feet of ground-floor retail and more than 80 underground parking spaces. Pickup and drop-off for the hotel will be on the Ipswich Street side of the building, and garage access will be off Private Alley 938, according to documents filed with the BPDA.

As part of the project’s approval, South Carolina-based OTO Development will provide funding for programming in the Back Bay Fens as well as funding for improvements to the Fenway Victory Gardens and for job training programs at the Fenway Community Development Corporation. And any meeting space in the hotel will also be available for community groups under current plans.

The project, too, has been tied to bicycle improvements outlined in the city’s Imagine Boston 2030 master plan and Go Boston 2030 transportation plan. OTO will work with the BPDA and the city Transportation Department in better connecting the north side of Boylston Street to the bike paths of the Back Bay Fens, according to the BPDA.

The future hotel—it’s the first in Massachusetts for OTO, which has did not respond to a request for comment on the construction timeline—is the latest bit of new construction in Fenway. It joins such projects as the recently completed Landmark Center redo and the planned Fenway Theater right next to the similarly named ballpark.