The D'Angelo family has stated that they are mulling over whether to offer to sell their land holdings in the Fenway to the next new owner of the Sox so the team can rebuild and expand its nearly 80-year old ballpark. The holdings consist of nearly three acres of shops and warehouse buildings located right next door to Fenway.
The Sox has been up for sale for a number of months now and various names have been bandied about as potential new owners of the team including cable tycoon Charles Dolan, television producer Tom Werner and local developer Frank McCourt. If the new owner is indeed able to buy the D'Angelo property, he would have enough land to go ahead and build in the Fenway.
In the current ballpark plan, the city would have to seize 15 acres of land in the Fenway by eminent domain. Under the plan, which was approved last summer, the city would pay $212 million to compensate the landowners, clean up the site and build a parking garage for the stadium.
The major sticking point for many members of the city council has been the seizure of land by eminent domain. Negotiations for the land have been unsuccessful up to this point. The D'Angelo land would bypass these issues.
City Councilor Maura Hennigan did not return calls by presstime but she has reportedly requested that the council not approve of the seizure of land for the ballpark. If the council does not approve of the measure the ballpark plan is all but dead. Add to that the fact that the team has not been able to raise the hundreds of millions of dollars it needs to finance the deal and the original Fenway plan does not look promising.
The possibility of building the ballpark on the waterfront in South Boston has been raised as an option but until the Fenway plan is officially abandoned it is unclear whether that alternative will be taken seriously.
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