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Image courtesy of Grassi Design Group
A developer of hotels, condominiums and restaurants in Boston over the past 40 years is seeking approval for a 15-story hotel in the Ladder District section of Downtown Crossing.
Developer Paul Roiff of Heath Properties proposes the 94-room boutique hotel replacing a 2,789-square-foot parking lot at 17-23 West St.
The hotel’s clientele would rely heavily on foot traffic and public transit, accounting for 75 percent of trips, according to a traffic study. The hotel would not include any on-site parking or food and beverage service.
Roiff’s past projects include redevelopment of a former Boston School Department building at 15 Beacon St. into the XV Beacon boutique hotel, and conversion of the Albert Pope building at 755 Boylston St. into luxury condominiums while opening Mistral restaurant in 1997.
The 38,043-square-foot Ladder District hotel would offer a “high quality low-cost/budget hotel” format, according to a small project application submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
The project includes a 42-foot elevated tabled crossing along the building frontage, a 10-foot-wide raised pedestrian crossing at the former of Washington and West streets for traffic calming and pedestrian safety, and a 15-dock Bluebikes station.
Developers anticipate a 24-month construction timeline, with completion in mid- to late 2026.
As proposed, the project requires approval of variances by the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal for building height, floor area ratio, street wall height, sky place setbacks and insufficient loading docks.
The BPDA is studying increases in base building heights for the downtown area, including the Ladder District, as part of its PLAN: Downtown study which would grant developers additional height bonuses in exchange for community benefits.
The Ladder District blocks currently have a 125-foot building height limit.
