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Red Sox readying plans for a 5,000-seat theater next to Fenway Park and changes to Fenway bleacher area
By adamg on Wed, 12/19/2018 - 9:41am
The Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox and Fenway Park, yesterday filed a letter of intent with the BPDA to build a new entertainment venue next to Fenway Park between Lansdowne and Ipswich streets, behind the Fenway bleachers, to "host a wide variety of entertainment and civic events on a year-round basis."
As part of the Fenway Theater project, the Sox would also make what they say are improvements to the Fenway Park bleacher area, including construction of new concession stands, restrooms and "other elements designed to enhance the fan experience in the bleachers." People with more money than the average bleacher fan would get the chance to rent "a new function space with sweeping views of Fenway Park."
The letter signals the intent to file detailed plans soon for construction of the new facility on land now used for a parking lot and a maintenance building, which in turn will trigger public hearings on the proposal.
Fenway Theater letter of intent (129k PDF).
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Comments
If they don’t need the parking,
They should give us our street back, rather than engineer an outcome that has FSG saying they need more use of the public realm.
The design includes parking
in a garage, and I'm not sure how this is related to Jersey St. being closed on game days.
dear john henry
we hate you. please sell the team.
Speak for yourself
He brought multiple World Series victories to Boston and kept Fenway Park from being bulldozed. The guy's not perfect, but he's OK by me.
And perhaps he's saving the Globe, too,
which would be fine in my book.
And he hasn't stolen millions
And he hasn't stolen millions from taxpayers like most team owners have done. Look at what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin. He cut hundreds of millions from schools and gave the money to the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks. Steal from kids to give to the rich: its the republican way!
Daddy is so clever :)
He realizes that sports fans can easily be duped and rarely check the internets except for
https://www.fangraphs.com
and
https://www.barstoolsports.com
or
https://740thefan.com/blogs/babes/711/smokin-hot-baseball-babes/
otherwise they would use Bing or google and figure out that the Red Sox have gotten tens of millions of dollars in tax credits. How else could we afford Pablo Sandoval?
A birdie told me we are going to get a #soulcycle in Fenway soon :)
That's great for suburbanites
and people from cow hampshire and the south shore were entertained. meanwhile, actual boston residents have to deal with trashy suburbanite sportsball fans.
give the city jersey street back!!!!
Maybe those whom you lament
Maybe those whom you lament were actual Boston resdents at one time. There was more utility to that area beyond baseball and green monsters, although the Boston Braves were a few trolley stops down Comm ave.
"Bostnkid" is living proof
"Bostnkid" is living proof that Boston sports fans are incorrigible and will NEVER be satisfied.
5 World Series titles in a span of 14 years? Yeah, screw you John Henry. ((eyeroll))
For the outrageous sums of money
these athletes are paid, that should have been 14 titles in 14 years.
Someone doesn’t remember the Yawkey era
Specifically the Foundation era. They spend a lot of money, and we were happy if they made the playoffs.
Um...you do know...
...that there are other baseball teams contending for those same titles?
Get out of your cabbage patch more.
What about the other teams
What about the other teams with outrageous salaries? See how it works?
5?
Did I fall asleep for one of them? '04, '07, '13, '18.
If you don't like John Henry...
...you must have jumped for joy at Tom & Jean Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan, and Buddy LeRoux. Both for their on-the-field successes and for their benificence.
bostnkid assumptions
yes i jumped for joy at tom and jean. i was there the day they kicked jackie and willie off the field.
yes im really not happy about the five world series titles tcf098 especially since no one told me about the FIFTH one!?!?!?! WTF!!?!?!?!
i hate going to the park and being jammed into a tiny seat and not being able to move. i hate not being able to take my two kids to a game because it costs about a grand to take a family of four. i hate the way he whores out the park for concerts and hockey games. now he wants more?
GO AWAY!!!!!
Settle down keed
"i was there the day they kicked jackie and willie off the field." -Good thing you put that right up front, so we know right away we are dealing with Creative Writing.
And when you girth is too big to fit someplace guess who's fault that is?
I hate how John Henry
I hate how John Henry controls my mind and makes me spend my money!
My bad, I grew up a Phillies
My bad, I grew up a Phillies fan and it sure feels like you won 5 f*cking World Series in 14 years. But really, is one less that much worse?
You seem to understand very little about sports economics. Either that, or you are wishing for some kind of unobtainable situation where ownership isn’t concerned about the bottom line. Fact of the matter is, even if John Henry wasn’t the owner, there would still be concerts and other shows hosted at Fenway. It’s the product of being one of the largest venues in the region, and that’s not to mention one of the most storied and historic. Of course musicians and such are going to shell out big bucks to perform there. It happens in every stadium across the country, Fenway isn’t an any different.
And how exactly do you think the Red Sox can afford the players that they sign? Do you think that money is coming from the pockets of John Henry?
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that cash partially comes from those supplemental events, TV deals, and massive fan base that you’ve accrued from winning so much over 2 decades.
For once in your life, quit bitching, and enjoy your team’s successes.
Fenway NIMBYs, get your
Fenway NIMBYs, get your pitchforks ready!
A World Class Opera House!
How about a world class Opera House!
https://www.google.com/search?q=opera+houses&tbm=isch
We arguably have two already
Opera House
https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=H2kaXJ2-NMWOggfP...
Wang Theater
https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=H2kaXJ2-NMWOggfP...
Right?!
I went to events at both venues for the first time a few months ago, within a week of each other. Both were absolutely stunning, with great views and sound.
Wang is not suitable for opera
When the Met used to come to Boston each year for a week in spring, they used the Wang for 3 or 4 of those years. It just didn't work -- the place is far too big (no mics used for opera performances). I think it was Richard Dyer who called it "the cavern in the winds."
The Wang is NOT an opera house
It's a re-purposed theater, build near the end of vaudeville it has the facility for live performances but was designed for the talkies.
It's too bad that the Wang's only live performance, now.
Not only was the Wang Theatre designed for the talkies, but they used to have a classical film serises, as well. Too bad that went away..years ago.
Also, since there's a movie theatre in the Fenway area (i.e. Regal Fenway Cinema 13, right on Brookline Avenue, here in Boston, why would they need another theatre in the Fenway theatre with 5, 000 seats? It, too, is ridiculous.
Not for movies
This one is to be a live performance venue. Boston doesn't have a lot in the 5,000 to 10,000 seat size, so this would go toward addressing the gap.
"...amplification at the Metropolitan Opera?", "Met microphones"
Of note,
please check out "Is Is there amplification at the Metropolitan Opera?"
and "Met microphones"
at
http://listserv.bccls.org/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind1812C&L=OPERA-L
Arguably, yes...
...but, in fact, no. Both were built for vaudeville/movies. Opera requires a different acoustic, not to mention a better pit for the orchestra and backstage space.There is a theater in Boston built with opera in mind as an option (albeit small-scale operas & operettas), the Majestic. It was built by Eban Jordan of Jordan Marsh fame. He was an accomplished baritone as well as merchant who also built Jordan Hall and subsidized the early seasons of the short-lived Boston Opera Company. The Opera House on Huntington was considered world-class when it opened in 1909. It was demolished in 1958.
Photos of the house before
https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/collections/neu:cj82qf59k
More info:
http://retrobostonremembered.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-tale-of-boston-ope...
Sox
Sox: "other elements designed to enhance the fan experience in the bleachers." - This really means an excuse to raise the cheapest ticket prices more.
They can't add any more seats
They can't add any more seats to the stadium so it's one of the ways to increase revenue.
they could always build a new park somewhere else.
The start of swallowing up
The start of swallowing up Lansdowne street. Eventually there will be seating bleacheri$ing the Green Monster that will cover over the street entirely, it's only right ! Further down the bank there was Newbury street, which was catdozed to make the Mass Pike Ext.
He is part of the beautiful
He is part of the beautiful people crowd, they adore him for removing Yawkey's name. He will get whatever he wants
If you want a world class concert hall
Bring back Steinert Hall and restore it to its former glory.
It's small
You can put maybe four people on the stage.
Also egress
An underground theater with inadequate fire exits, what could go wrong?
That's why it closed
after the Cocoanut Grove fire. It won't reopen unless the developer finds a way to solve this problem.
If you want a world class concert hall
There's one a couple of thousand feet from Fenway Park, on the other side of the Fens.
Two of them, a block apart
Modernizing a theatre's tech? Or a new theatre?
Modernizing a theatre's tech? Or a new theatre?
Met Opera House capacity 3,800
>"With a seating capacity of approximately 3,800, the house is the largest repertory opera house in the world.[1]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_House_(Lincoln_Center)