MASSPORT Board Votes to Award Omni Hotels & Resorts and New Boston Hospitality as Developer for Boston’s New Hotel Adjacent to Convention Center
New hotel with 1,000+ rooms to expand Boston’s convention business
BOSTON (April 13, 2017) – The Massachusetts Port Authority Board of Directors has designated
Omni Hotels & Resorts (“Omni”) and New Boston Hospitality LLC
to develop Boston’s newest hotel, adjacent to the Convention Center. The project will enhance Boston’s prominence as a leader in the U.S. meetings, conventions and events industry with plans to introduce a state-of-the-art 1,000-plus room luxury hotel directly across Summer Street, and connected by an underground tunnel to the Rafael Vinoly-designed Boston Convention Center in the dynamically evolving Seaport District.
“With an influx of international businesses and restaurants coming to the neighborhood, this new hotel will help meet the growing demand of visitors to the Seaport District,“ said Massport CEO Thomas P. Glynn. “Omni is a national hotel leader with more than 60 hotels across the U.S., Canada and Mexico and we are thrilled to work with them on this exciting project.“
This will be the largest hotel in both the Seaport and Downtown Financial Districts and the fourth largest hotel in Boston, just blocks from the new international headquarters of General Electric. The hotel, located in the heart of the Seaport District, will have a covered walkway leading hotel guests to the MBTA World Trade Center Silver Line station as part of the public amenities in the design. Parking for guests is currently being built at the South Boston Waterfront Transportation Center. The Centers, anticipated to open in early 2018, will consist of a 1,550 space parking facility with electric vehicle charging stations, bike share, and car share options directly adjacent to the Silver Line Station.
The design, by Elkus Manfredi Architects, in association with Moody Nolan and local firm Stull & Lee, fully utilizes the two-acre site in order to create a dynamic, high energy mixed-use environment and generate additional revenues for both the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston, slated to open in 2021.
Jonathan Davis, CEO of New Boston Hospitality, added, “We look forward to working with Tom Glynn and his talented team of professionals at Massport to bring this transformational project to the City of Boston, the Seaport District and to the Commonwealth.”
“I would like to thank the Massachusetts Port Authority Board of Directors for this opportunity, as well as all our partners involved with this landmark project,” said Jim Caldwell, CEO of Omni Hotels & Resorts. “We have deep New England roots with both the Dunfey Family as founders of the Omni brand, and our signature Omni Parker House. We’re going to take our rich history, complemented with an exceptional partner in the New Boston Hospitality Group, and together we will develop one of the pre-eminent multi-use lifestyle/hospitality facilities in the country.”
Omni, a national hotel leader, along with a team of highly experienced local real estate professionals from New Boston Hospitality, collaborated to propose an innovative hotel and mixed-use design concept, focused largely on public amenities, along with a pioneering investment structure for non-profits and minority and women owned-businesses and individual investors that will share in the revenues of the new development.
“Our team is comprised of local leaders in their industries. Each member brings years of experience in the Boston real estate and hospitality industries to the project. From the outset, we committed to include participation from local minority and women-owned businesses, who will build their capacity by working alongside established leaders in their fields of expertise. We will deliver a cutting-edge project, which will be developed using local resources to increase Boston’s convention center business internationally,” said Brian Fallon, President of New Boston Hospitality.
New Boston Hospitality is comprised of The Davis Companies, Spot On Ventures, Taylor Smith Group, and 17 local minority investors who have pledged to co-invest in the project, as well as Boston Urban Development, a local minority women-owned business. A comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion Program with broad based, meaningful M/WBE participation in the ownership, design, engineering, construction and hotel operations of the project, was a key component of the Omni/NBH proposal, bringing the M/WBE level to 31percent during the design phase. The construction team of John Moriarty & Associates, in concert with Janey Construction & Management Consulting, will bring the M/WBE level to approximately 30 percent during the construction phase. In addition, six local non-profit organizations will receive a portion of the hotel’s profits, including The Edgerley Family South Boston Clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, The Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester, The South Boston Community Health Center, Ladies Involved in Putting a Stop To Inner-City Killing (LIPSTICK), Julie’s Family Learning Center and the Building Pathways Program, a pre-apprenticeship program that provides construction career opportunities to low-income Boston residents.
ABOUT OMNI RESORTS & HOTELS
Omni Hotels & Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at 60 distinct luxury hotels and resorts in leading business gateways and leisure destinations across North America. With over 20 world-class golf courses and award-winning spa retreats, to dynamic business settings, each Omni showcases the local flavor of the destination while featuring four-diamond services, signature restaurants and unique wellness options. Known for its distinguished, personalized service, Omni leaves a lasting impression with every customer interaction, with a heightened level of recognition and rewards delivered through its Select Guest loyalty program and the company’s “Power of One” associate empowerment program. The brand is frequently recognized by top consumer research organizations and travel publications and was ranked “Highest in Upper-Upscale Segment Guest Satisfaction” in the J.D. Power 2016 North American Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study
SM. As a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), Omni’s loyalty program is further expanded through the DISCOVERY
® loyalty program offering members additional global benefits. Committed to reducing hunger, Omni is on a mission through its Say Goodnight to Hunger initiative to help provide more than 18.2 million meals each year for food banks to feed children, families and seniors in communities in which it operates. To get additional information or book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni.
ABOUT THE DAVIS COMPANIES
Committed to excellence in both investment performance and operations, The Davis Companies is an integrated real estate investment, development and management firm headquartered in Boston that has invested over $4 billion in gross asset value through real estate equity, debt, and fixed-income securities. A unique combination of capital markets, development and management expertise allows The Davis Companies to nimbly tackle complex and contrarian opportunities. Directly, and with its valued partners, The Davis Companies currently owns a real estate portfolio of approximately 12 million square feet across the Eastern United States.
ABOUT SPOT ON VENTURES
Robin Brown, Principal behind Spot On Ventures brings over 40 years’ experience in design, financing, construction, branding, permitting, and hands-on property management for urban, mixed-use property developments in luxury, lifestyle, convention and limited service hospitality projects. Brown created the concept and oversaw the development for the Mandarin Oriental Boston. Brown was involved in the acquisition, transformation and rebranding of the Boston Park Plaza and the $125 million Knickerbocker renovation in Times Square and The Verb Hotel in Boston, as well as multiple other projects currently under development and repositioning in Boston.