A $450 million project, that will result in a new expanded commuter rail station, the first solar powered one for Massachusetts, is in the pipeline.
State officials will break ground this coming Monday and pave way for the project to begin. That will then allow developer John Rosenthal to begin his $450 million project for this site, known as Fenway Center, a multi-part development project that involves office space, retail, residential units and a parking garage with solar panels. It will be built behind Fenway Park and over the Massachusetts Turnpike.
“This station is an MBTA commuter rail station operating for Longwood medical area and Fenway Park has no public access and is buried in a sea of parking lots,” said Rosenthal.
Rosenthal estimates that the first phase of the commercial part of the development will begin in 2011 and take about three years, depending on the financing, which he is still working on.
Rosenthal has been trying to get this off the ground for a decade. Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino are scheduled to attend groundbreaking for the project.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will contribute $13.5 million toward revamping commuter rail stop Yawkey Station. The station's platforms will be extended. It also will more than double the number of times trains along the Worcester and Framingham line that can use the station from 17 stops per day to 40.The station will also feature a solar array that designers say will produce more than enough power to serve the station’s needs.
This overhaul is expected to create up to 200 jobs.