
Developers Say New Hotel Would Boost Convention Business
A proposed 438-room hotel near the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center will provide nearly half of the rooms needed to accommodate an expansion of the meeting hall, developers say.
A proposed 438-room hotel near the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center will provide nearly half of the rooms needed to accommodate an expansion of the meeting hall, developers say.
Boston’s limited number of hotel rooms makes the city one of the country’s most expensive convention destinations, state officials were told last week. That information could weigh on an in-limbo process to redevelop parking lots near the city’s biggest convention center.
David Gibbons is out as Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s executive director following an 8-year tenure that attracted recent criticism of management’s handling of real estate development and diversity efforts.
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center officials framed their plans for commercial development on 6.2 acres of nearby parcels as a necessary lifeline to hotels in the neighborhood.
A planned commercial development that drew criticism from some South Boston elected officials has been put on hold by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
How is the Boston convention business doing as it rebounds from the pandemic? Officials affiliated with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority used phrases like “surges in demand,” “through the roof,” “off the charts,” “coming back strong” and “maxed out” during a report to the board Thursday.
As Gov. Charlie Baker revs up to make another attempt at selling the Hynes Convention Center more than two years after his first effort fell flat, legislative leaders said Monday they still do not know where they stand.
The Hynes Convention Center property in Back Bay could be back in play for a multi-million-square-foot private redevelopment project.
As activity reawakens at the Massachusetts Convention and Exhibition Center, developers are proposing another nearby option for travelers.
A report says Boston’s lodging market has been among the nation’s hardest-hit by the coronavirus epidemic, and the effects could linger for years similar to the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and 2008 financial crisis.
The maximum buildout of the Hynes Convention Center property is coming into sharper focus as the marketing process proceeds and the state legislature debates whether to authorize its sale.
As legislators debate the proposed sale of the Hynes Convention Center, Back Bay business leaders say their neighborhood depends for its survival on the facility. And Beacon Hill appears to be listening.
Back Bay business leaders warned of a potential blow to the neighborhood’s hotel and restaurant economy if the Hynes Convention Center is sold to a private developer.
In addition to a planned $500 million expansion at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, officials are planning at least four other requests to find developers interested in putting hotels, parking or both on MCCA-owned land around the BCEC.
The Back Bay Association is raising the specter of a punishing blow to the Back Bay economy if efforts to redevelop the Hynes Convention Center falter due to economic timing, or the complications of rebuilding on a site partially located above the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Proposals are due Nov. 25 for real estate brokerages seeking to market Boston’s Hynes Convention Center for redevelopment.
While Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday his administration has noted “tremendous” interest from real estate developers in his proposal to sell off Back Bay’s Hynes Convention Center for redevelopment, legislative leaders appear reluctant to jump on board the bandwagon.
The MCCA’s board of directors on Thursday took a series of votes to authorize the sale of the Hynes Convention Center, pending legislative approval, to begin work towards a $500 million expansion of the BCEC and to return 12 acres of land in the seaport to the city of Boston.
The building of additional roads is not a realistic solution to our current and future transportation challenges in the Boston area.
Gov. Charlie Baker returned the Legislature’s bill to tax and regulate short-term rentals on Wednesday, waiting until the day after the House and Senate adjourned formal sessions for the year to propose an amendment that would exempt homeowners that rent out their units for fewer than 14 days a year.