Under plans recently filed with a city agency, the Boston Red Sox could begin construction on a Fenway Park Theater this fall in anticipation of a 2021 opening.
The Red Sox are looking to redevelop a parcel of land behind Fenway Park, pitching a theater as part of a proposal that still requires city approval. In partnership with Live Nation, the organization would build a 5,400-person theater over a triangular plot of land at Landsdowne and Ipswich streets that is currently used by satellite trucks and for other parking during Red Sox games.
Late last month, an affiliate of the Red Sox’s ownership group submitted details on the proposal to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. As explained in the filing, the theater would host events on a year-round basis, with the goal of attracting shows that are too small for arenas/stadiums but too large for venues with a capacity below 2,500. Should the plans–which are in the early design stages–receive proper city approval, the Red Sox would look to begin construction after the 2019 season and open the theater in summer/fall of 2021. More from Curbed Boston:
The venue will host events year-round. And, to make room for it, the 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.
Plans for the theater are one component of a larger renovations pitch by the Red Sox, who are also proposing upgrades to Fenway Park’s bleachers that would be completed in 2020. Should the plans move forward, they would mark some of the latest changes that the Red Sox have made to Fenway Park under the John Henry-led ownership group, which has made significant improvements to the ballpark–including the Green Monster seats, a right-field rooftop area, and more–since taking over in 2002.
Image courtesy Neoscape.
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