Red Sox show off upgrades at Fenway

April 3, 2008 05:33 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff

The giant Coke bottles have been taken away, seats have been added, and a new stairway constructed, but fans entering the turnstiles Tuesday aren’t likely to be blown away by many of Fenway Park’s most recent changes. And that’s just how the Red Sox management wants it.

“Our goal is for fans to come in here and breathe a sigh of relief that it doesn’t look different,” said Janet Marie Smith, the Red Sox senior vice president of planning and development who has overseen the park’s renovations.

“Fans are still in their grandfathers’ ball park, it just happens to be more comfortable and convenient,” she said.

Smith, along with Sox chief executive Larry Lucchino, led Mayor Thomas M. Menino and a gaggle of media around the park yesterday to highlight the most recent off-season additions to the 96-year-old ballpark, including 875 new seats and additional standing room.

Perhaps the biggest change is the completion of “Coca-Cola Corner,” which replaced luxury suites built for the 1999 All-Star game and includes a new 100-person standing room section and 412 pavilion-level seats above where the left-field foul line meets the Green Monster. In keeping with the organization’s goal to provide more seats for under $100, the red plastic seats, which provide a bird's-eye view of the field, will sell for $75.

In February, the team removed the 25-foot-tall Coke bottles from the left-field light tower in an effort to return the light towers to their original appearance. Now, the section is crowned by a scrolling red Coca-Cola sign reminiscent of the one that stood over Storrow Drive for more than 40 years. The retro-style sign is actually ultramodern, with LED-lights that use just a 10th of the power of the old ones.

“While it looks old-fashioned, it’s environmentally friendly,” Smith said.

Built in 1912 for $650,000, Fenway Park was once one of the largest fields in the majors. Today, it’s the smallest and the oldest. “I’ve always thought of us as the Little Engine that could,” Lucchino said.

Expanding the park has been a challenge for decades. Back in the 1940s, a Boston newspaper joked that not even Albert Einstein could find a way to squeeze more seats into Fenway. But management has gotten creative in the past seven years, adding seats to the Green Monster, bleachers, and upper decks, increasing capacity by 10 percent, to a total of 39,928.

“It’s challenging and rewarding,” Smith said. “We have to come up with ways to change the park, without really changing it.”

Across the park, efforts have been made to bring the park into the 21st century without losing that early 20th-century flavor. A new staircase and elevator in left field will give fans entering at Gate A on Yawkey Way easy access to all levels of the park. Previously, crowds had to use the stairs at Gate D, behind home plate, to get to the upper levels of the park.

“We wanted to add mobility opportunities so people can move around more easily,” Lucchino said.

Eight new private suites, complete with hardwood floors and flat-screen TVs, have replaced the six temporary suites on the State Street Pavilion, and the bleachers have been upgraded with self-rising seats that will help keep the rows clear. Four new LED-light auxiliary score boards along left and right field will help fans with limited views of the center field and left field scoreboards. But don’t expect that to mean an explosion of graphics and cartoons during games.

“This is a ballpark, not an arena,” Smith said.

The most talked-about change, however, has yet to be seen. Construction is still underway on the “Bleacher Bar,” a year-round restaurant slated to open in May. Set behind the garage door on center field, the 150-person restaurant will give diners a new perspective of the beloved park.

Fans aren’t the only ones benefiting from all this work. Sox players will enjoy a renovated locker room this season, additional restrooms, and a new kitchen stocked with a professional range and two stainless steel refrigerators.

“Most of our players are used to clubhouses twice this size,” Smith said.

Even with all the changes over the past seven years, Smith said the organization has a laundry list of renovations to complete. Up for next year: renovation of the right field upper deck and replacement of the center field scoreboard.