Boylston Street build-out continuing

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff

A Boston developer is proposing to build 210 residences, offices and retail stores on the site of a former McDonald’s near Fenway Park.

The project by The Abbey Group would transform another lot on outer Boylston Street, which has evolved rapidly in recent years with the addition of new shops and restaurants, along with hundreds of sleek, modern homes.

In a filing submitted to the city today, Abbey Group executives proposed to build a multi-leveled building that would be set back from Boylston Street and create room for outdoor cafe tables and a small courtyard. The building, located at 1282 Boylston Street, would be 16 stories at its peak and step down to four stories closer to adjacent neighborhoods in the west Fenway.

“The proposed project will build on the current momentum in the Boylston Street corridor,“ Abbey Group wrote in its filing. “Demand for Fenway area housing continues to rise steadily as the appeal of this emerging urban village has become a highly desirable area for professionals, young families and empty nesters.”

The property has been used for parking since McDonald’s closed in 2009. The Abbey Group hopes to begin construction later in 2012.

In addition to housing, the firm’s complex would contain 99,000 square feet of offices and 15,000 square feet of retail space -- enough to accommodate a cafe and several other shops. It is being designed by the architecture firm Bruner/Cott and Associates. The project still needs approvals from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which has instituted zoning changes in recent years to encourage development in the area.

The Abbey Group previously developed the nearby Landmark Center, a 1 million-square -foot office and retail complex at Park Drive and Brookline Avenues. It sold the complex last year to developer Steve Samuels, who has also redeveloped several properties in the neighborhood.