New Hotel Projects Offset Problems with Convention Center Anchor Hotel

BOSTON-Despite the difficulties developers are having securing financing for the anchor hotel next to the proposed convention center here, a number of smaller hotels are in the process of being built. It is these smaller projects that have enabled the city to reach its required convention center benchmarks to ensure that there will be enough hotel rooms in Boston to serve conventioneers.

A year ago, six hotel projects were having trouble getting off the ground; currently, five hotel proposals have secured financing. Three hotels are under construction and three are on the verge of breaking ground.

The 1997 state law that authorized the development of the $750 million convention center in South Boston required that there had to be 2,800 new hotel rooms by this year and an additional 4,800 rooms by 2003, when the convention facility is scheduled to open. “We now have 2,922 rooms completed,” Meredith Baumann, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority tells GlobeSt.com. “Between the 473 rooms under construction and those with the approval process initiated, we will be at 4,601 rooms for the next benchmark.”