Dive Brief:
- The Massachusetts Port Authority has chosen Omni Resorts and Hotels, along with the joint venture New Boston Hospitality, from a group of six proposals to build a $550 million hotel in the city's Seaport District, according to the Boston Business Journal.
- The hotel, which will be the fourth-largest in Boston, will consist of two 21-story towers totaling 800,000 square feet and will feature approximately 1,054 rooms. Most of the units will be standard size, but the hotel will also offer 278 smaller, lower-priced "innovation" rooms.
- The hotel development will also feature an 8,500-square-foot spa, 40,000 square feet of retail venues and 120,000 square feet of meeting and event space with three ballrooms. Officials said construction will begin in the summer of 2018, with the opening scheduled for early 2021.
Dive Insight:
The new hotel will be built on a 2-acre site across the street from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and will offer access to a nearby Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail station. The new hotel and its amenities will likely serve as an additional incentive to help the city win lucrative convention business.
This is the latest in a string of major development news for Boston. In February, area firm WS Development announced its updated plans to turn more than 12 acres of parking lots — also in the Boston Seaport District — into a nine-building development that will hike the area density by 21% to almost 8 million square feet. The development includes 1.4 million square feet of residential, innovation space, a promenade with shops and restaurants and a public plaza.
Earlier this month, Mayor Marty Walsh proposed legislation that would allow construction of the largest residential tower in the city to move forward, even though when complete it would cast a shadow over two popular tourist and resident venues, Boston Common and Public Garden. In exchange for allowing Millennium Partners build the 750-foot high-rise, zoning regulations would tighten up elsewhere in the city.
Walsh also unveiled a $4.7 billion transportation plan earlier this year that would overhaul the city's infrastructure agenda with 58 projects that aim to increase resident access to economic centers and improve system reliability. Part of the program is intended to increase mass transit options and reduce reliance on vehicles.