Filene?s tower may land luxury Marriott
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - Updated: 09:00 AM EST
Beleaguered Downtown Crossing is poised to land one of the nation?s upscale hotel chains - JW Marriott - as part of the $600 million-plus redevelopment of the landmark Filene?s complex.
Project developers are in exclusive talks with the high-end hotelier, which would run a 250-room, $150 million hotel in part of a tower proposed for the current Filene?s site, said John Hynes, president of Gale International and one of the project?s developers.
JW Marriott touts ?luxury touches,? including custom bedding and rich linens, marble bathrooms, high-speed Internet access and executive business centers.
The Filene?s development team recently selected JW Marriott from a field of contenders, which at one point also included the exclusive Meridien chain, Hynes said.
The ability to attract a top hotel chain would be a coup for the project and for the development team, a partnership between Hynes? Gale International and New York development giant Vornado Realty Trust, said Thomas Engel, a Boston-based hotel industry consultant.
The 1.2 million-square-foot Filene?s redevelopment is seen as key to City Hall?s efforts to overhaul Downtown Crossing, with the shopping district struggling to fill vacant storefronts.
?I?d have to say that a JW Marriott is a positive reflection on the overall positioning of that redevelopment,? said Engel, president of the T.R. Engel Group.
Hynes said he plans to break ground on the Filene?s redevelopment shortly after Labor Day. He is focusing now on lining up the final regulatory permits needed before work can begin.
Project executives are also busy courting retailers for the project, which will feature both a renovated Filene?s building and a new skyrise next to it.
The 38-story tower would feature multimillion-dollar condos on its top floors and hotel rooms farther down. Also in the works are 500,000 square feet of office space and several floors of retail in the old Filene?s building, including a revamped underground Filene?s Basement store.