CHICAGO HOTEL BUSINESS. has learned the Boston-based Saunders Hotel Group will carve a 200-room boutique hotel out of a defunct police headquarters in Boston s Back Bay.
Attending the AH&LA annual conference here at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, president/CEO Jeffrey Saunders, said the project is expected to open in 2003.
Historic preservation is critical to our family and it s important to the city, said Saunders, citing one reason for the adaptive reuse.
While not a landmark building, The Saunders Group will receive a 10% historic tax credit to do the project, which will include a cutting-edge bar, sophisticated cuisine and urbane design.
Located at ground zero on Berkeley St. in the Back Bay market, Saunders said the land price was $14 million. We expect total project cost to be $55 plus or minus million for about 210 rooms. If we do our homework right and our value engineering correctly, we should end up at about $250,000 a key, all-in.
The Saunders Group s other properties include The Lenox Hotel, Copley Square Hotel and the Comfort Inn & Suites Boston Airport. (4/6/01) Stefani C. O Connor