The Esplanade Association (TEA) shared details on the much-anticipated Charlesbank project near Kenmore Square during its annual meeting on April 8. The project will redevelop two acres of land, closed off to the public since the 1990s, into a year-round recreation facility.

Construction of the nearly 9,000 square foot campus is scheduled to begin this June and is expected to be completed in June of 2026.

Intended as a multipurpose space focusing on all season recreation, the building will feature a café, free wi-fi, 12 restrooms, five community rooms, and a lobby with information desk and educational displays.

The footprint of the site will include a multipurpose recreational space of athletic courts and multiple green spaces.

Designed by Maryann Thomspon Architects, both the interior and exterior of the site are built with transparency and openness in mind and architecturally pays homage to the old shingle style buildings which originally stood when Frederick Law Olmsted first planned the area for public recreation.

It’s also designed to connect visitors to nearby destinations like Teddy Ebersol’s Red Sox Fields, the Museum of Science and the forthcoming Gronk Playground.

“This will be one of the only places that people can access an elevated view, freely and publicly accessible, along the riverfront like this,” TEA Executive Director Jen Mergel said of the building’s second floor. “Looking out over some of the recreation and multipurpose courts, areas and flexible plaza and our over the ball fields and the river view.”

The project comes over 23 years in the making, said Mergel, starting with Department of Conservation and Recreation’s predecessor, the MDC, who in its expansive plans for the Charles River Basin intended for the area to be the future site of a multiuse visitors center.

The new center replaces the former Joseph Lee Pool Complex, which was closed in the 1990s. TEA took over the project following the demolition of that building and began the planning process for the new building.

In the interim, said Mergel, TEA’s operations will be moved from its current location near Charlesbank to the Dartmouth Street comfort station to make space for construction.

Throughout 2025, people trackers will be posted at entrances near the Charlesbank site to allow the association to better understand visitorship in the area before the opening.

Last year, multiple footbridge entrances into the esplanade had these counters, which helped the association to better understand the park utilization over the course of the year. They found that they had over three million entries through just four of the eight entrances into the park between January 1 and December 31.

Mergel added that the existing paved drop-off space and access to the Teddy Ebersol Red Sox Fields off Storrow Drive will be maintained throughout the construction. The promenade along the seawall will also be maintained throughout construction, and the park will remain largely usable until the very end of construction when the pathway is being repaved.

“What’s really inspiring here is that while construction will be happening, 2025 through mid-2026, we’re also starting to plan and imagine what the programming partnerships can be. We know what the facilities will be,” said Mergel, “we basically know what the hardware is now, and now it’s an opportunity to play with the software and think about what could possibly happen beyond the expected in these dynamic outdoor spaces.”