Plans to be revised for Kenmore Square project

An ambitious mixed-use development proposal that would straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike and connect Kenmore Square and Fenway neighborhoods has stumbled, as residents and city officials say it may be too dense and too tall.

John Rosenthal, whose One Kenmore plans had been sailing forward in a city known for throwing obstacles in the way of new projects, last week withdrew the latest version of the $300 million development from Boston Redevelopment Authority consideration.

"We're going back to the drawing board," said Meredith Baumann, a BRA spokeswoman. "We asked him to pull it. He's going to come up with some financially feasible alternatives."

Rosenthal had submitted a so-called project notification form Jan. 23 for a revised version of his original plan. It called for 1.1 million square feet of mixed-used development, including 500 residences, 98,500 square feet of retail space, a 75,000-square-foot health club, a small office building, and 775 parking spaces in two garages.

A community center and day care center also were included in the plan, as well as a large outdoor pedestrian space connecting Kenmore Square and the Lansdowne Street entertainment district and Fenway Park.

But, following concerns expressed by city officials and members of the Citizens Advisory Committee that is overseeing development and design, a public meeting late last month was canceled.

Rosenthal said yesterday he decided that withdrawing the proposal and revising it was preferable to trying to make adjustments.

"I was getting feedback both positive about the uses and negative about height and density," he said yesterday. "There are real solutions to it, but height and density was going to detract from productive conversations."

The major issue for the developer, Meredith Kenmore/Fenway Development Group LLC, as well as for the neighborhoods and the city, is how much building is required to cover as much as possible of the gaping canyon the Massachusetts Turnpike creates as it cuts through the city.

"There's the rub," Rosenthal said. "Assuming the uses stay roughly the same, the only way to reduce height and density and cost and bring in an economically feasible project is to reduce the deck."

There is consensus that covering up the pike on Rosenthal's turnpike air-rights development parcel, from Brookline Avenue to Kenmore Street, is desirable, he said. "Somebody has to pay for it. The more deck you cover, the more density you need."

Rosenthal's latest plan, scaled down from his original proposal last year, called for seven buildings, the two tallest at 29 and 23 floors.

"Overall, the CAC members liked the direction the project is going," said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, executive director of the Back Bay Association and a member of the One Kenmore Citizens Advisory Committee. "But definitely through the course of discussion and hearings the neighborhood thought the height and density needed to be further reviewed."

Mainzer-Cohen called the site "a unique parcel wedged in between some very important neighborhoods.

"It's not just the height and density," she said. "It's also the uses -- making sure that long-term it works for everybody there."

Baumann said the BRA had hired a consultant to help its development officials and Rosenthal determine how much commercial development, and what kind, is required to build the expensive foundation slab over the turnpike.

That consultant is Pam McKinney of Byrne McKinney & Associates Inc., who also tried to resolve differences between the community and a developer on the contentious, but finally approved, Columbus Center project, over the turnpike a few blocks east of Kenmore Square.

"She's going to help us as we think through the alternatives," said Baumann.

Rosenthal, who took his proposal to the turnpike and city officials early and tailored it to many of their wishes, has had mostly positive reactions so far. He was optimistic but also discouraged yesterday. "I don't know if this is good news or bad news," he said.

But Mainzer-Cohen said she believes One Kenmore will happen. "I don't think it's going to derail it," she said. "He's been very responsive to the community."

Mainzer-Cohen said she suggested to Rosenthal he needs to coin a new word -- "deckanomics" -- in order to have community discussions about these unusual air-rights development deals.

"There is such a relationship between the cost of the deck and the density and height," she said. "I look forward to seeing the next iteration."

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.