Harbinger Development is seeking to build a 411-room hotel at 660 Summer St., part of a potential hotel development boom in Boston’s Seaport District.
As the master-planned 6.3-million-square-foot Seaport Square and 3-million-square-foot Fan Pier projects build out prime real estate in Boston’s Seaport District, the next frontier of development is forming near the entrance to the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park.
Three development projects with nearly 1.1 million square feet of offices, hotels and apartments are moving ahead, all on land owned by Massport and the Economic Development and Industrial Corp. (EDIC) of Boston on the edge of the waterfront’s industrial zone.
Both the EDIC and Massport are counting on business travelers to generate demand for hotel development, which will comprise a substantial portion of the sites.
Wellesley-based Harbinger Development will target the business traveler crowd with a dual-branded hotel at 660 Summer St. It’s partnering with Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites to appeal to the convention center market with a mix of 245 select service and 166 extended-stay rooms.
Stoughton-based Conroy Development obtained Boston Redevelopment Authority approval in 2014 for a 250-room hotel on Massport’s parcel K, at Northern Avenue and Congress Street. The development would also include a 304-unit apartment building.
John Miller, executive vice president for Lincoln Property Co. in Boston, confirmed that it has agreed to take over the project from Conroy Development and hopes to break ground in early 2016. Lincoln Property will self-manage the property.
“We’ve gone back and forth between limited-service and more of a 4-star hotel,” Miller said.
The newest proposals augment three hotels that are approved on parcels acquired last year by WS Development in Seaport Square. And Massport is reviewing submissions from six developers for another 250-room hotel as part of a mixed-use development on Summer Street across from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Massport’s press office did not return messages seeking information on the project.
Not all of the projects are likely to be built in the current real estate cycle, said Alan Suzuki, a director with HFF in Boston.
“Some of those projects are going to run into some financing issues,” Suzuki predicted. “Most people feel we’re getting late in the cycle and it’s getting harder and harder to finance these things. The ones that do will be the developers who have strong relationships with the local lenders.”
Boston and Cambridge hotels’ financial performance have shown vulnerability during the first five months of 2016, according to research by CBRE Hotels. Revenues per available room declined 0.4 percent, partially because of a decline in large convention business at the BCEC.
Overall, though, Boston’s hotel market remains on solid footing, Suzuki said.
“We went through a period from 2009 through 2014 without any new hotels, and the market could have used more rooms,” he said. “Boston is always going to be a strong tourism and convention destination.”
Urban Gateway To Drydock District
Skanska Commercial Development USA recently filed plans for a 298,700-square-foot office building on EDIC’s parcel Q1 on Drydock Avenue, even as it seeks tenants for its 400,000-square-foot speculative office tower under construction at 121 Seaport Boulevard.
Skanska describes its office building project as an opportunity to create an “urban gateway” to a section of the waterfront that it calls the Drydock District, the transition zone between the newer developments along Seaport Boulevard and the marine industrial park. That’s reflected in the plans for a weathered metal and wood facade inspired by warehouses in the industrial park, where longtime operators like Stavis Seafoods have expanded in recent years.
Designs by Spagnolo Gisness & Assoc. of Boston include a 12,900-square-foot outdoor plaza and 8,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space facing the Conroy development site across the street.
The remainder of the 191-acre marine industrial park is restricted to maritime and industrial uses. But a BRA-commissioned master plan scheduled to be released this fall will set the tone for future development.
The plan was last updated in 2000, and the decline of the shipping and seafood industries could open up opportunities for rezoning of the parcels for commercial and residential uses. Life science, design and tech companies have relocated to the 800,000-square-foot Innovation and Design Building, a former Army warehouse. Utile Architecture & Planning is leading the master plan update.
Exelon Parcel Redevelopment On Horizon
On the opposite side of the Reserved Channel, Boston-based Redgate Real Estate is drawing up plans for a large redevelopment of the former Exelon-owned power plant property at 776 Summer St.
Exelon hired Colliers International to market the 18-acre waterfront parcel and sold it to Redgate Real Estate and Hilco Redevelopment in April for $24.25 million. The developers have not announced specific plans, but recently began their public outreach with a community meeting in South Boston.
As the closest major development to the residential core of South Boston, the project has attracted attention from residents who see an opportunity to address the neighborhood’s loss of community spaces in a highly-sought-after real estate market.
The South Boston Arts Association has asked Redgate to include a 17,000-square-foot community arts center to provide meeting, performance, gallery and rehearsal space for local artists, musicians, dancers and creatives. The organization uses a small former photo studio at 317 E St. as its home base.
“We’ve sought anything that makes any sense and could be a possibility,” said Dan McCole, cofounder of the South Boston Arts Association. “Southie is the real estate target of the world’s developer types. The money situation is hard to fight, but we do think the developers owe a little bit to the community.”
Redgate, which did not respond to requests for comment, has indicated it would like to save at least the facade of the 186,000-square-foot power plant structure, said Joanne McDevitt, the arts association’s clerk. The next community meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tynan School, 650 East 4th St.
