The developer of a 33-story hotel and condo tower could begin construction on the project in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood this winter.
The development team, a trinity of Boston hotel operators Jeffrey and Gary Saunders and Jordan Warshaw, plans to build 115 condos and 227 hotel rooms in a 400-foot tower at 40 Trinity Place.
The project is currently being reviewed by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), which last night held its first public meeting about the $225-million tower. If approved, the building will contain three restaurants, with a lobby and banquet space on floors 18 and 19.
The developer has put together an "economically viable plan," given the mix of hotel rooms, condos and retail space, according to Warshaw. While he would not give specifics about who the developers are courting for financing, Warshaw said he is "very comfortable" with the project, especially since the team owns the Boston Common Hotel & Conference Center where the project would be built. If the BRA approves the tower, the team could begin construction sometime this winter, Warshaw added.
"The economics don’t work usually for hotels," because they cost so much to build in Boston, Warshaw said after the meeting. "The profits from the condos will serve to lower the leverage on the hotel."
Comments from residents and other community stakeholders at the public meeting were wide ranging. Several residents from the Clarendon apartment and condo building across the street at 400 Stuart St. expressed concern that they would be losing direct sunlight into their units, with one saying he would lose 75 percent of the sunlight that he now enjoys.
Others expressed frustration that they expect an already blustery section of Clarendon Street to be even windier due to the new project. One resident at 400 Stuart St. said he has seen truck panels torn off and smashed into nearby windows at ground level, and baby strollers have been blown over when unattended, and many an umbrella has been turned inside out.
Even so, development team officials said high winds in other areas would be mitigated by the new project.
"We still want the building to be no higher than the Clarendon," which is approximately 350 feet tall, said Jonathan Smith, who represents the Ellis South End Neighborhood Association on the group that advises the developer and the city on the impacts the project will have on surrounding areas. "We asked for public space, like a school … or community meeting space."
When asked about the affordable component of the building’s units, Warshaw said 17.5 percent of the residential units in the project will meet the city’s affordability standards, rather than market rate, beyond the city’s requirement for 15 percent.
Audience members in the restaurant and other parts of the commercial real estate industry came out to support the project. Patrick Sarkis, son of Back Bay restaurant mogul Charlie Sarkis, said he welcomed the project in the Back Bay, where he is a real estate owner. Justin Ferreira, a real estate investor who lives at the Clarendon, said he supports the proposed project because it will activate the street. Several local union representatives, like the local hotel workers and electrical workers unions, also voiced support for the jobs it would create.
