Aug. 24–A 60-room hotel is being proposed for a narrow paved lot on Boston’s High Street, across from the towering International Place in the Financial District.
Developer Ronald Luccio Jr. plans to build an estimated $6 million, 15-story, glass-faced building for the moderately priced, limited-amenities hotel, where rooms would be small.
“We’re looking to do something that’s a small boutique hotel — something to kind of fill a gap,” said Fred Mannix, a development consultant for the project.
“We’re trying to keep the price-point down so business people can use it,” Mannix said. “We’re not going to have a restaurant or a ballroom, so people can use the amenities in the neighborhood.”
The lot, which is approximately 20 feet wide and 60 feet deep, lies between two six-story buildings that house the O! Deli and Thai’s Village restaurants on their first floors. It’s currently used for parking.
“We’re trying to get something that’s a little bit more modern-looking, but in keeping with the neighborhood,” Mannix said. “It’s almost like a little spire, with the front of the building leaning toward High Street.”
The proposed project still must be vetted by neighborhood groups and must go through the city permitting process.
“It’s a good-sized building,” Mannix said. “We need some height, obviously, to have it developable.”
With one of the highest average daily hotel room rates in the country at $209.45 per night through June, the Hub needs moderately priced hotel rooms, according to Matt Arrants, executive vice president of Pinnacle Advisory Group, a Boston-based hospitality consulting firm.
“It’s particularly important for us in terms of our ability to attract conventions to the city,” Arrants said. “You need to have a wide range of housing options for convention-goers. Not everyone can afford to stay at places like the Boston Harbor Hotel and the Four Seasons.”
New hotel development is picking up in Boston right now, according to Arrants.
“There are a lot of new projects that people are looking at,” he said, declining to discuss any of the projects. “The market is very strong right now. We’re one of the top-performing markets in the country.”
Boston’s hotel occupancy rate for the first half of the year was 77.6 percent, up 1.3 percent from the same period last year, according to Pinnacle data.
