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The Teller: Inn Coming Architect John H. Catlin, who is also serving as local representative for the English family that owns the Back Bay building at 88 Exeter St., said the owners hope to erect a three-story addition to the seven-story structure. The plan does require a variance, and proponents will appear before the city's Board of Appeals on Aug. 11 to seek zoning relief, said Catlin, adding he is "positive" the board will support that request. If it does receive the go-ahead, the conversion will take the building back to its roots, having opened in 1891 as a residential hotel. "it is finally arriving back to where it should have always been," Catlin said. "It's a special building." Estimated to cost between $7 million and $9 million, the renovation is slated to be underway by this fall, with a completion date anticipated for late 1999 or early 2000. Catlin's firm, JCA Assoc., will incorporate design elements of the older building into the addition, he said. The project certainly would seem to align with the city's goal of adding thousands of new hotel rooms to support the planned convention center. As part of the financing mechanism, Boston and Cambridge must have 4,800 rooms completed by 2003; according to Boston Redevelopment Authority spokeswoman Kelley Quinn, there are currently more than 3,000 rooms committed, including the Exeter Street project, which received BRA approval last week. Quinn also noted that the Exeter Street venture adds to a recent trend of developing so-called European-style hotels in the Hub, following similar ventures already opened or under construction at 185 State St. and 15 Beacon St. Such operations tend to be smaller and more intimate than the crop of mega-hotels built in past cycles in the city, she said. Catlin said it is too early to determine whether the developers will persue the middle market or open as a luxury facility. This article appeared in the print edition of the Banker & Tradesman news weekly. |
