Courtyard by Marriott will operate an 81-room hotel at 88 Exeter St. in Boston’s Back Bay.
Boston’s Back Bay will soon have a new Courtyard.
Ending an extensive effort to find an operator for a new hotel under construction next to the Boston Public Library, the owner of the property at 88 Exeter St. has struck a deal with a national franchising group to lease the inn as a Courtyard by Marriott. The agreement brings that brand to the Hub for the first time, although Marriott has been aggressively opening Courtyards in suburban Boston over the past two years, most recently in nearby Brookline.
Efforts to contact the franchisee – Meyer Jabara Hotels – were unsuccessful, but others involved in the negotiations concurred that a deal has been cemented between the three parties. The project is being developed by Boston Exeter Corp., the real estate investment arm of a wealthy British family.
“Marriott has approved an 81-room Courtyard at 88 Exeter St. in Boston,” confirmed Marriott official Skip LaBarre, while Insignia/ESG Hotel Partners Managing Director David M. McElroy acknowledged that Boston Exeter Corp. has come to terms with Meyer Jabara for a long-term lease on the property. The hotel is slated for an opening in the first quarter of 2004, LaBarre said.
Sources claimed the pact between Boston Exeter and Meyer Jabara will run for 20 years. McElroy, who marketed the lease on behalf of Boston Exeter, declined to discuss specifics of the agreement, but did say the opportunity generated substantial interest among potential operators. Meyer Jabara Hotels was selected due to an extensive track record as an operator, McElroy said. Based in Danbury, Conn., and West Palm Beach, Fla., the privately held firm currently controls 27 hotels in 13 states, a fiefdom that encompasses more than 4,900 rooms.
“The owner engaged us to find a partner with a reputation for financial strength, as well as operational skill,” said McElroy. “Given the superiority of the location, I expect the hotel to be a resounding success for both parties.”
Insignia/ESG Hotel Partners is a division of Insignia/ESG. McElroy has been shopping the lease since last autumn, during which time Boston’s hospitality industry has suffered through one of its worst stretches in memory. Despite that, investors and operators alike continue to demonstrate long-term confidence in the local hotel market, as witnessed by the nearby development of a Jury’s Doyle Hotel by Saunders Hotel Group and the interest generated at 88 Exeter St.
Filling Gaps
Observers describe Courtyard by Marriott as a middle-market brand, offering more amenities than limited-service operations but less than that seen at such full-blown hotels as the Sheraton, Westin or Hilton. One hotel analyst estimated that 88 Exeter St. will look for a rate in the $200-per-night range, compared to more than $300 commanded by Boston’s high-end inns.
“I really think it has its own little niche,” McElroy said when asked which other hotels 88 Exeter St. will compete against in the Back Bay. It will differ from the upscale, independent brands of the Lenox and Copley Square Hotels owned by Saunders, McElroy said, as well as the full-service Marriott hotels at Copley Place. “I’m sure Marriott looks forward to being in there” with the Courtyard brand, McElroy said. Along with the Brookline operation, Courtyard recently opened new hotels in Waltham and at Woburn’s Unicorn Office Park.
The momentum for 88 Exeter St. is also another boost for those who see Boston as still having too few rooms to service future demand, particularly with the continued struggles to obtain financing for new convention-sized hotels. The inability to move forward with larger projects such as Starwood’s 1,100-room hotel in Boston’s Seaport District has caused jitters as the city’s new $700 million convention center nears completion, while Sawyer Enterprises has also been stifled in a protracted effort to construct a 390-room hotel in the city’s Midtown market.
Helping to infill that demand has been the arrival of smaller operations such as 88 Exeter St. The $72 million Hotel Commonwealth recently opened in nearby Kenmore Square, as did a 168-room hotel at Tudor Wharf in Boston’s North End market. Jurys Doyle, an Ireland-based operator, will make its foray into Boston with the Saunders hotel, which recently held a topping-off ceremony. The $55 million Jurys Boston will feature 220 rooms when it opens.
