Stalled Boston Project Gets Second Chance

BOSTON— A new development team, made up of Bostons Cresset Group and Farrar Equities of Newport, RI, plans to take over a stalled 88-room hotel project in a historic Bulfinch Triangle District building here. The acquisition for the six-story, triangular-shaped “flat iron” building near North Station is expected to be complete this fall. “We have it under agreement,” confirmed Jeffrey Farrar, a Farrar Equities principal. “Were going to restore the building and turn it into an affordable two- or three-star hotel.” The group is buying the property from New Merrimac Development LLC, a Winchester-based company managed by Richard Marchese. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Farrar Equities, which owns a 122-room Best Western in Florida, will manage the hotel. Farrar has requested to fly the Best Western flag over the Boston property and a decision will be made by the Best Western International board in October. Farrar says hes raising money for the estimated $10 million hotel that he hopes to open by the end of 2003. New Merrimac had its own plans to build a European-style hotel at the site, and received clearance from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in March 2001 to add three floors to the property. According to the Boston Herald, its unclear why those plans never got past the permitting stage. However, the reported noted that in the past 18 months, the Boston hotel market has been in its worst slump since 1991, and financing for both construction and redevelopment projects has been virtually nonexistent. SOURCE: Boston Herald