August 30, 2009

Janet Marie Smith leaves Fenway almost done

Boston Red Sox ballpark renovations director Janet Marie Smith has "left the team," according to the Boston Globe, which says "much of work" on renovating Fenway Park had been completed. Smith, who did not comment for the article, was reported by Sox president Larry Lucchino to now be working on renovations to the Rose Bowl "among other projects."

There's some weirdness here — while most of the new amenities were indeed complete, some, such as renovations to the grandstand down the first-base line, were not, so it's an odd time for Smith to leave. It's certainly possible that the Sox ownership simply decided that in a still-weakened consumer economy, they'd reached a point of diminishing returns on what they'd get in return for spending millions on further renovations.

In any case, Smith, who before her Fenway gig was best known for overseeing the building of Camden Yards and setting off the modern retro stadium craze (and, some said, taking more credit for it than she deserved), has accomplished what some said was impossible: taking a cramped, undermaintained ballpark and making room for modern amenities without tarnishing the building's history or charm. The Ricketts family could do worse than to give her a call.