Sox architect lands a new job amid renewed questions about the team’s development direction
Just a matter of a week or two after leaving the Sox payroll, Janet Marie Smith, the charismatic architect who helped save Fenway Park from the wrecking ball, has landed a new gig.
Smith will oversee planning and development at the Baltimore Orioles, a franchise near and dear to her heart. Smith, who hails from Baltimore, worked with Sox chief Larry Lucchino back in the early 1990s, helping oversee the rollout of the well-regarded Camden Yards ballpark.
Lucchino spent several crucial years in Baltimore, forging close relationships with a talented crew of experts and executives like Smith who he later brought to Boston.
Still, the big question remains who will pitch development for the Red Sox, who now control a large swath of property around Fenway Park after years of aggressive acquisitions by John Henry’s ownership group.
In my Aug. 31 Banker & Tradesman column, I argued that Smith’s departure will take a major force pulling for preservationist approach around the ballpark. (It is a story I broke for the Boston Courant on Aug. 28.)
Smith, who helped inject new life into 1912 Fenway after nearly a decade of renovation work, was determined to prevent the ballpark from being overshadowed by a ring of towers on nearby lots.
She skirmished over the years with developers like Steve Samuels, who has built two high-rise residential complexes near the ballpark and is eager to do more.
And Smith also likely kept the Sox in check as well, throwing a damper on any dreams of massive new developments o the team’s parcels around the ballpark.
An experienced real estate executive from a local development family, Pizzuti is said to be lobbying for a more intensive approach to development by the team, the paper reports.
This should be an interesting one to watch.