Fenway Center Petitions for Changes in Use, Far Less Parking

The developers of Fenway Center – a project on air rights over the Mass Turnpike – have petitioned state environmental regulators for a project change that includes getting rid of residential uses and eliminating more than 500 parking spots.

Meredith Management has issued a Notice of Project Change to state environmental regulators (known as MEPA) that makes changes to the Fenway Center Phase 2 proposal – changes they are hoping will be minor modifications not triggering further state reviews.

One of two major changes to the Fenway Center plan includes adding additional office/research/lab and life sciences space with active ground floor uses. That new configuration comes in place of the previously-approved residential uses in the buildings.

A second major change includes eliminating 500 of the 1,290 parking spaces attached to the project. By doing that, it would reduce the threshold trigger of 1,000 new spaces. Any project adding 1,000 or more spaces has to go through an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process to review parking and transportation. With the reduction of parking, there would now be 790 spaces and that would eliminate the need for a state review on that matter.

The only threshold for an EIR that the project would now exceed is for new discharge to the sewer system and stormwater systems.

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