The Back Bay Association is calling for a potential redevelopment of the Hynes Convention Center property to include approximately 150,000 square feet of meeting space, limiting lost business to neighborhood hotels and restaurants. Photo courtesy of Grk1011 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Long lines waiting at Boylston Street maître d’s are a reliable indicator of the Back Bay hospitality sector’s dependence upon the Hynes Convention Center as a magnet for out-of-town visitors. 

“All the restaurants are full when there’s a conference at the Hynes with a large contingent,” said Gary Saunders, chairman of Saunders Hotel Group which owns the Lenox Hotel and is partnering on the $400 million Raffles Boston hotel and condos, scheduled to open in 2022. “There are a number of concerns that the business community has that are valid and meaningful in terms of what happens there. A huge private investment has been made in the area, with the hotels that have been built because of the Hynes.” 

Saunders and other Back Bay businesspeople who cater to Hynes clientele are gearing up for another fight to save the meeting hall, which attracts an estimated 500,000 annual visitors. The Back Bay Association is raising the specter of a punishing blow to the Back Bay economy if redevelopment efforts falter due to economic timing, or the complications of rebuilding on a site partially located above the Massachusetts Turnpike. 

“If the state is going to sell the Hynes, they’ll also need to deduct the loss of tax revenue and economic value to the commercial properties in Back Bay,” said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association. “There’s a tremendous value in having real estate and hotels connected to an economic generator. What you see is a neighborhood that’s abundant with opportunities for people attending conventions to shop, dine and enjoy themselves.” 

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which oversees both the Hynes and the 15-year-old Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport, has systematically steered business toward the South Boston property at the Hynes’ expense, Mainzer-Cohen said. 

“While the Hynes has not been effectively marketed and filled to its capacity, it’s still having an economic impact. We just feel they’re doing their due diligence backwards,” she said. 

With three hotels containing nearly 3,200 rooms connected to the Hynes, the association said any redevelopment plans should be designed to replace the Hynes-generated hotel room nights and restaurant sales. The association suggests a redevelopment include approximately 150,000 square feet of privately-operated meeting space. 

Hynes Operating at a Loss 

Gov. Charlie Baker in September proposed selling the Hynes to offset the estimated $500 million cost of a 500,000-square-foot BCEC expansion. The Back Bay facility reported $16.4 million in revenues and $17.3 million in expenses in fiscal 2018, and needs $200 million in repairs over the next decade, according to the MCCA. 

Data provided to Banker & Tradesman by Boston-based hotel consultants Pinnacle Advisory Group indicates the two convention centers generate between 500,000 and 600,000 hotel room night bookings annually. The Hynes typically accounts for 30 percent to 40 percent of the bookings, or up to 240,000 room nights, including some visitors attending BCEC events. Through September, Back Bay hotels had Boston and Cambridge’s second-highest average daily room rates at $271, trailing only downtown Boston, according to Pinnacle data. 

Pinnacle estimates business at the two meeting halls will drive a 24 percent increase in room nights in 2020. 

Anticipating next year’s legislative debate, the Back Bay Association is commissioning an economic impact report to bolster its assertions that the Hynes is critical to the neighborhood’s vitality. The MCCA has commissioned a $25,000 study of its own by RKG Assoc., scheduled for completion in December. 

Size of Redevelopment Remains Unknown 

Redevelopment of the 6-acre Hynes site could deliver a nine-figure windfall from a private developer, some real estate executives predict, given its prime location. 

But one glaring detail remains unresolved: just how much development could ultimately be permitted on the site. The Hynes property sits on the border of two zoning districts, according to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, which is researching the maximum buildout. 

The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay wants the legislature to condition the sale on zoning control over what could take the Hynes’ place, Chairman Martyn Roetter said. 

Steve Adams

“There doesn’t seem to be any understanding of the conditions on the site and what can be achieved there,” Roetter said. 

David Begelfer, principal at Boston-based CRE Strategic Advisors, said portions of the existing 800,000-square-foot building may have to be retained out of necessity. Part of the property sits above the Massachusetts Turnpike on an existing deck, potentially limiting the size of new construction. 

“I would not be surprised to see a hybrid: a lot of the existing property remaining, with some development air rights that go up on a portion of the property,” Begelfer said. 

One major real estate player that could play a role in the Hynes’ future is Boston Properties, owner of the neighboring Prudential Center and the 18-story 888 Boylston St. office tower, which opened in 2016.  

“They have an edge not only as far as their proximity, but it’s synergistic to everything they have,” Begelfer said. “They might be willing to pay a bit of a premium to incorporate that into their master site, but there are others who feel this is a great opportunity as well, depending upon how much density can be added.” 

State Rep. Jay Livingston, D-Boston, whose district includes the Hynes property, said he is awaiting the findings of economic studies by the administration and Back Bay Assoc. 

“If people want to build something, what limits would be placed on that? The Back Bay Association has indicated there should be meeting space, because of a lot of businesses in Back Bay including some of the largest hotels in the city were built adjacent to it,” Livingstone said. 

Proposals from commercial brokerages to market the Hynes property were due to MCCA on Wednesday, after Banker & Tradesman’s print deadline.