Sox will help plan area near ballpark

Now committed to staying at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox could become a partner in the commercial and retail redevelopment of the Kenmore Square area, according to the team's chief architect, Janet Marie Smith.

It is unlikely the world champions would deal in residential real estate like neighboring developer John Rosenthal plans to do, but the team is formally joining a newly expanded planning effort along a stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike near the ballpark. The Sox could participate financially in retail or office portions of the expected multiple-use expansion of the evolving area.

''The general thinking is to plan in a way to create a neighborhood and mixed-use living," said Smith. In addition to three blocks of space over the Turnpike controlled by Rosenthal, the area includes a block farther west toward Beacon Street, where the team already owns property.

''He's always said he would be looking at taking on partners," Smith said. ''The Red Sox could be a partner, though I have not thought through as a practical matter what that means."

At the least, the Red Sox and Rosenthal will sit down to do intensive planning for the area, which in addition to Kenmore Square includes the Fenway Park and Lansdowne Street entertainment district. The parties will even consider possible transportation improvements in surrounding areas like Audubon Circle and Landmark Center to the west, and Charlesgate toward downtown.

''If it all comes to pass, it means I'm starting over, which is a bitter pill," said Rosenthal, who as president of Meredith Management Corp. has spent more than two years drawing up plans for an ambitious mini-city that would straddle the Turnpike, connecting the Kenmore and Fenway neighborhoods.

But he is also looking forward to the new effort. ''I'm flabbergasted; I'm thrilled," that the neighborhood and the Red Sox now are heartily endorsing a joint planning effort, Rosenthal said. Last year he withdrew his proposed plans for One Kenmore, where he once envisioned more than a million square feet of development in seven buildings, including 500 residences.

The consensus toward planning for a broader geographic area, and formally including the Red Sox, was reached at an Aug. 31 meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, a group appointed by the mayor to guide development of One Kenmore. Although it was favorably received by many when it was first proposed, the Red Sox had serious reservations about tall buildings and luxury residences so close to Fenway Park.

The 24-page Kenmore Square Area Progress Report, commissioned by the Kenmore Square Association, a business coalition, outlines some key goals of area businesses and residents, such as concentrating transportation activity in the MBTA's Yawkey Station area.

With the addition to the mix of what is known as Parcel 7 -- air rights for development over the Turnpike between Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street -- more of the residential portion of any project can be moved from the commercial and entertainment areas of Kenmore and Fenway toward Beacon Street, which already has a high number of residential buildings.

Parking could be concentrated in the space over the Turnpike, where construction would be easier and it could be hidden from view by surrounding commercial or residential buildings. The parking, which would be used mostly at night and on weekends for baseball games, could benefit employees of the Longwood Medical Area during weekday working hours.

''Whether the Red Sox end up owning and financing the garage is up in the air," said Smith, who is vice president of planning and development for the Red Sox. ''Maybe a public entity is better able to do that."

Although Rosenthal's proposal for revising the area south of Kenmore Square, near the Hotel Commonwealth, has languished for months, all of those interviewed said a new plan -- incorporating Rosenthal's vision, but scaled down in height and spread out to the west -- could come together by early October.

''We wanted to get everyone at the table and get everything on the table," said Pam Beale, chairwoman of the citizens committee and co-owner of Cornwall's pub in Kenmore Square. ''The Red Sox have a lot of energy, and John Rosenthal is such a nice guy -- why not put everybody together and see if we can get something to happen?"

The proposal to expand and upgrade Yawkey Station, perhaps with bus service, would require millions of dollars. Some area residents believe it could divert bus traffic from the congested Kenmore Square Green Line and bus station, which is undergoing a $22.7 million modernization.

Dennis DiZoglio, the MBTA's assistant general manager for planning, said making improvements to Yawkey so it could accommodate more and longer subway trains makes sense, but bus connections to the Green Line at Kenmore will still be needed.

The new plan could eventually hit a roadblock, but at last month's meeting there was almost unanimous agreement that it is on the right track.

''We were all pleasantly surprised," said Smith. ''It was one of the few times I didn't know what to say."

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