Including all the Raffles Boston hotel’s many amenities required designing a building that fit together with the precision and complexity of a Swiss watch and adopting atypical features like a lobby on the 17th floor. Image courtesy of The Architectural Team
Back Bay’s latest luxury tower began construction – or, rather, demolition – yesterday, with a ceremony at 40 Trinity Place in Boston, the current site of the former Boston Common Hotel and Conference Center.
Projected to open in early 2022, the 33-story, $400 million Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel and Residences will be the first Raffles brand. Featuring 147 hotel rooms, 146 branded residences and six restaurants and bars, the tower will join Raffles’ collection of 14 individually properties around the world. The project will contribute $13 million to the city’s affordable housing trust fund in addition to seven affordable units located on-site.
The project is being developed in a joint venture between Trinity Stuart LLC, which is a partnership between two Boston entities: hoteliers Gary and Jeffrey Saunders of Saunders Hotel Group and developer Jordan Warshaw of The Noannet Group, together with their equity partner Cain International. Hospitality experts Accor, the Paris-based parent of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, is the hotel management partner, and Madison Realty Capital is providing $314 million in construction financing.
“Raffles is one of the most iconic names in the world, while the Back Bay is one of the most iconic neighborhoods in world. In researching potential hotel partners for this project, we became enamored with everything Raffles stood for,” Warshaw said in a statement. “Every member of the Accor team, from the CEO to the head of design, shares the Raffles vision of creating beautiful, iconic buildings with warm, friendly service that seamlessly blend into their environments – always timeless, always local, never generic, trendy or stuffy…. We are so grateful to Mayor [Marty] Walsh, all the elected officials, dedicated Boston and Massachusetts agency staff, along with our valued neighbors here in the Back Bay for collaborating with us on this spectacular development.”
The tower may soon be joined by another less than a block away. H.N. Gorin and Masterworks Development Co. plan to seek seek approvals for a 300-room hotel tower up to 240 feet tall, on the site of the Red Lantern restaurant.
