Despite these reports, Peter Harrington, spokesman for MetLife Inc., which owns the landmark building, insists to GlobeSt.com that no sale in planned, although last week, MetLife reportedly moved 300 of its employees to another facility. "Mr. Friedman has not submitted any proposals and there have been no negotiations between MetLife and Mr. Friedman," Harrington reports. Richard Friedman is the president of Carpenter & Co.
Starwood and Friedman have faced many difficulties financing the $1,120-per-night-room convention center hotel, but a luxury hotel here will probably not have the same problems. "A couple-of-hundred-a-night-room hotel where there is no question about the market--and the data shows that those kind of hotels lead the pack in Boston--will not be difficult to finance," Patrick Moscaritolo, director of the Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, tells GlobeSt.com.
According to Moscaritolo it is not surprising that Carpenter would be interested in developing the MetLife building into a hotel. "Carpenter & Co has been very aggressive about hotel development," he points out. "We are underpopulated in terms of hotels here, in particular the high-end luxury hotels."
Two other luxury hotels have recently been proposed for this area--the Regent Hotel on Battery Wharf and a five-star luxury hotel in the Prudential Center. According to Moscaritolo, St. Regis has been looking at opportunities to enter the Boston market. "It makes sense for them to have their brand available here," he says. "Their customer base matches those doing business here."
The hotel could have difficulty winning community approval, with traffic issues most likely being the major concern for local residents. "There will definitely be circulation-related issues," says Moscaritolo, who notes that the building does have an underground garage.
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