BOSTON—Making it to a centennial birthday is a given cause for celebration, a time to reflect on, refresh and renew one’s appearance so the next 100 years can get off on the right foot, particularly for a hotel. And that’s exactly what operator Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and owner FelCor Lodging Trust deemed appropriate for their grande dame celebrant here, The Fairmont Copley Plaza.
Built in 1912, the landmark Back Bay property recently completed a $20-million renovation and restoration that incorporates 21st century styling and amenities while preserving the ambiance and sophistication that has sustained the hotel and drawn guests to it for generations.
According to Paul Tormey, regional VP and general manager, the investment is designed to reposition the property for the next 100 years. The hotel officially recognized the centennial milestone with a rededication ceremony on Aug. 16.
“The hotel has been definitely in the center of business travel, leisure and social markets for many, many years,” said Tormey, noting the hotel always has been strong with occupancy and rate, but needed to be revamped in certain areas.
The last renovation, done in 2003/04, included all soft goods and approximately 80% of casegoods.
FelCor Lodging purchased the property in August 2010 and the renovation project began three months later. “FelCor, to its significant credit, [took aim]right away to make
sure the hotel was repositioned quickly,” said Tormey.
This time around, all 383 guestrooms, suites and guest corridors, as well as the concierge level Fairmont Gold Lounge, were renovated, including some guest bathroom expansion enhancements. A color palette of blue and plum carries into the rooms and corridor—the tones found in the marble of the hotel’s architecturally significant public spaces.
The hotel also debuted eight “themed” suites that play off some of the city’s most notable aspects. The suites include: the Museum of Fine Arts; Boston Pops; Boston Symphony Orchestra; The Freedom Trail; the JFK Library and Museum; Boston Public Library; The Museum of Science; and The Catie Copley Suite, which honors the hotel’s canine ambassador.
The six-story hotel was done in thirds in terms of the guestroom renovations. “We sold approximately 125 rooms [open inventory]during that time frame,” said Tormey. “We just kept going in phases.”
The designer for the guestrooms, suites and corridors was Massachusetts-based Parker-Torres Design, LLC.
“We felt strongly that the designer needed to have New England roots to understand what Boston is and what Boston customers expect,” said Tormey. “We have a huge drive-to market of customers who come in for cultural events and weddings, so we wanted to make sure we hit the right tone with them.”
Also new to the hotel is a 3,000-sq.-ft. rooftop health club that features floor-to-ceiling windows and an 800-sq.-ft. outdoor sundeck. The facility was carved from space that had numerous previous iterations: an owner’s apartment, a manager’s apartment, a public relations office and, most recently, the office of a nonprofit organization.
The Copley Plaza’s former fitness space was in a guest bay; now, guests may take advantage of TechnoGym equipment, which includes cardiovascular machines with individual entertainment systems, free weights and benches, weight machines, resistance training, core-strengthening equipment and a stretching area.
The Fairmont Copley Plaza’s Oak Bar and Oak Restaurant also were repositioned into a combined facility now known as the OAK Long Bar + Kitchen. “We maintained and enhanced all of the historic architecture of the restaurant. There were two different ceilings in the Oak Bar and the Oak Restaurant—a tray ceiling and three vaulted sections with frescos, respectively. Those were repainted and enhanced with new lighting, so they are still designed as they were 100 years ago, but look absolutely spectacular,” said Tormey. Also in place is the original Beaux Arts plaster and restored copper mullions; fireplaces alongside a wine room; tufted leather bar stools; and an 83-ft., copper-top bar. A seasonal outdoor patio is available.
The f&b outlet is managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
Selected for the restaurant renovation, as well as part of the lobby, was a company called Power Strip. The company transformed part of the hotel’s Peacock Alley, concierge space and retail space into a lobby lounge. “They took painstaking attention to make sure all of the architectural details of this historic building were maintained, enhanced and, in some cases, restored,” said Tormey.
For example, the floor of Peacock Alley, adjacent to the lobby lounge, had been carpeted for decades. Although carpeting already had been ordered for the space, once the existing carpeting was removed, revealing the original mosaic floor tiles, a decision was made to restore the hand-laid tiles to their original grandeur. “It’s absolutely stunning,” said Tormey. “Every day people are just taking pictures, looking at the floor in amazement, asking, ‘Is this real?’”
The hotel’s lower lobby meeting space has been renovated as well, transformed into a new state-of-the-art conference facility. Five meeting rooms, equaling 5,600 sq. ft. of function space, feature built-in buffets, new conference tables and ergonomic conference chairs.
The back-of-house also got some revamps with the replacement of almost all the air-handling units for the public spaces and lobby and the addition of a new chiller to update the infrastructure. All five guest elevators received new mechanical and control systems.
“We also completely redid the electrical distribution throughout the guest suites and rooms,” said Tormey, noting in terms of technology, “it enhanced what we already had [and]made it a lot more stable. We have wireless and wired Internet. We also had media panels built into all of our desks so if someone wants to bring in their own content on their iPad or iPhone they can plug into the desk and show that movie on the guestroom television. They can also do that with their music programs.”
Tormey said the project management team worked with the city’s historic society to make sure it was engaged for the necessary permits regarding the renovation/restoration of the hotel. It was originally designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, architect of the Copley Plaza’s sister hotel, The Plaza in New York City; The Willard in Washington, DC; and The Dakota apartment building in Manhattan.
“Along with the infrastructure work on the inside, we redid the facade of all three sides of the hotel. We were in scaffolding for a good portion of this renovation, particularly in 2011,” said Tormey. “A lot of decorative terra cotta and stone was replaced on the building, and we had consultants on our project management team [at the time Colliers, Meredith & Grew]working with the city on that.”
The facade work was done by NER Construction Management, Inc.
Tormey said the hotel has been able to “significantly increase” its ADR year-over-year, and occupancy “is right on target.” He added that the Fairmont Copley Plaza is looking to change its market mix “a little bit,” playing less in the discount channels and “a little bit higher in the luxury-travel segment with the different travel agencies and consortia groups to make sure we’ve got the right customers to enjoy our new product.”