BPDA Approves $300M Fenway Development, Stadium Makeover

Image courtesy of Utile Architecture & Planning

Housing developer Scape received approval for its third project in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood, creating 400 furnished apartments in a 299,000-square-foot building at 2 Charlesgate West.

The Boston Planning & Development Agency board of directors Thursday approved the $300 million project along with plans for a public-private partnership to redevelop Roxbury’s White Stadium as the future home of a National Women’s Soccer League team.

Scape’s latest Fenway project will replace three small buildings on a half-acre parcel with a 28-story apartment building overlooking the Bowker Overpass.

The project was submitted in 2021 and approved under Boston’s compact living pilot, which was suspended in May 2023, and required developers to include larger common areas in exchange for smaller individual living units. Designed by Utile, the Fenway project will include 14,000 square feet of shared space including a lounge, co-working space, gym, communal kitchen and roof decks.

The project will include 68 units reserved for households earning 70 to 120 percent of area median income. The Passive House-design, all-electric project will not include on-site parking. A $3.2 million community benefits and mitigation package includes $850,000 for construction of a public stair connecting Boylston Street with Ipswich Street.

The project also will require a height variance from the Boston Zoning Board of Appeals. 

The White Stadium project received approval but still faces a legal battle in Suffolk Superior Court. 

Boston Unity Soccer Partners, led by Jennifer Epstein, and The Able Co. responded last year to a request for proposals to redevelop the 74-year-old stadium. The city’s estimated contribution to the project is $50 million, according to project filings.

“This is one of the most fiscally responsible projects we’ve embarked on as a city, by wisely taking advantage of the opportunity to leverage private financing as opposed to solely relying on taxpayer dollars,” Boston Chief of Operations Dion Irish told BPDA board members. “We would literally double the cost of the investment it would require the city to renovate the entire stadium.”

The project includes the renovation of the West Grandstand, construction of a new South Crescent building containing concessions and restrooms, and creation of The Grove, a multipurpose open space.

A lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy seeks to block the project, in which the city would lease the property to Boston Unity Soccer Partners. The nonprofit environmental group alleges that the land deal would violate the terms of a charitable trust that originally funded the stadium construction.

The project has received backing by Mayor Michelle Wu, and opposition from some residents who objected to the stadium’s partial use for a private sports team.

“This approval delivers greatly expanded hours of Boston Public Schools and community use, world-class athletic and community facilities, more than an acre of additional green space opened up to the public, and guaranteed annual funding to invest in Franklin Park,” Wu said in a statement following Thursday’s vote.

At Thursday’s meeting, the BPDA board approved a total of 484 housing units, 99 of which will be income-restricted.

Fenway Community Development Corp. received approval for a 24-unit affordable housing project at 112-114 Queensberry St., a former laundromat that the nonprofit acquired in June.

In Brighton, the board approved a 39-unit residential project in a 6-story building at 470 and 470A Western Ave. by Triad Alpha Partners.

And at 1905-1911 Centre St. in West Roxbury, CAD Builders received approval for a 21-unit condominium project.