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Portland development firm Gerding Edlen is laying the groundwork to begin construction this fall on a prominent infill project near Boston’s famed Fenway Park.

The project comes on the heels of Gerding Edlen’s move this spring to open a Boston office, led by industry veteran Beatrice Thevenot.

Gerding Edlen is partnering with a prominent Boston developer, John Rosenthal, and others on the Fenway Center project. The first phase comprises two buildings, one eight stories and 130,000 square feet and the other 14 stories and 209,000 square feet. Combined, the buildings will have 313 residential units and more than 30,000 square feet of ground-floor residential space.

A second phase would be built on a structural deck over Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street and just off of David Ortiz Way, west of the historic home of the Boston Red Sox.

Overall, the project would total nearly 1.1 million square feet, with 550 apartments, up to 1,290 parking spaces and retail, restaurant and office spaces, according to planning documents submitted to the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

Construction is scheduled to begin in September, said Kelly Saito, Gerding Edlen’s managing partner. The total project budget exceeds $200 million.

鈥淭his particular project sits on this incredible piece of real estate,鈥� Saito said. 鈥淣ot only is it right next to Fenway Park, right on the other side of the (Massachusetts Turnpike) is Boston University, which also means you’re right next to Kenmore Square 鈥� one of the biggest transportation stations.鈥�

Gerding Edlen has primary responsibility for managing and executing the project, Saito said. Rosenthal has been working to finalize an air-rights lease with the state of Massachusetts to allow the project to proceed.

Fenway Center is only the latest project in Boston for Gerding Edlen, which is developing the 17-story 5 MLK project at the Burnside bridgehead in Portland. The developer first became involved in the East Coast city around 2010, Saito said.

鈥淲e very quickly fell in love with Boston,鈥� he said.

The Boston area has strong market fundamentals supported by employment growth in higher education and health care, Saito said.

Boston 鈥渉as all of the characteristics to make it a long-term, attractive city,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’ve got a lot of history, a lot of culture. You have a relatively compact city. Similar to Portland, you can walk from one end of downtown Boston to the other.鈥�

Gerding Edlen has developed or purchased approximately 850,000 square feet of property in Boston in the past several years. Factory 63, a former shoe factory, was rehabilitated to create 33 housing units and artist’s lofts, and 315 on A is a new tower with 202 apartments. Gerding Edlen went on to develop Troy Boston in the South End, a 378-apartment, two-tower project and The Eddy, a 258-apartment property overlooking Boston Harbor. In December 2016, Gerding Edlen purchased another apartment property, Neponset Landing.

Thevenot is based in Boston and manages Gerding Edlen’s properties in the East Coast and Midwest markets.

Besides Portland and Boston, Gerding Edlen also has substantial holdings in Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Those markets share a low downside risk, Saito said.

鈥淲e see those as markets that are very strong and growing today but also historically exhibit greater resiliency in down markets,鈥� he said.