Fenway in flux

This morning The Boston Globe is reporting that Mayor Menino is backing a plan to create a new street that would run parallel to Yawkey Way in the Fenway and join both Boylston and Beacon Street to help spur further development. Over the past 5-10years, the Fenway neighborhood has seen unprecedented development. Initially starting in the old Sears building on Park Street and in Kenmore Square but more recently in the Fenway neighborhood where mixed use developments have replaced vacant or decrepit buildings.

New tenants to the neighbhorhood include coffee shops, furniture and clothing stores and if the mayor gets his way (which he usually does) then this new development will be anchored on the Beacon Street side by the $500 Million One Kenmore Project which when completed will cover part of the Mass Pike I-90 and be book-ended by two projects on Boylston; one as yet to be named and 1330 Boylston, which just opened this week and includes more than 200 residential units, retail space and is the new home for Fenway Community Health Center (the largest GLBT health facility in the US).

This is a beautiful downtown neighborhood sandwiched between some of the country's most respected hospitals and one of the city's most affluent sections - the BackBay. The area has one of the city's largest and most beautiful parks (the Fens), is home to Fenway Park and thousands of college students who attend universities both in and around the Fenway. The recent development has brought more life to the area, and I am excited to see how this latest project enhances the community.