Electricians' Union Explores Investing in HQ Hotel

BOSTON-A top union official stated that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is interested in investing money from its pension fund in the headquarters hotel for the convention center here in South Boston. The 1,120-room hotel is considered vital to the success of the $800 million taxpayer-financed center, but the project has stalled as its developers, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, try to secure financing.

The union has just invested tens of millions of dollars in equity into the development of 33 Arch St., a 33-story office tower in the heart of the financial district here. It was at the groundbreaking ceremony for the tower that Frank Carroll, of the IBEW, announced that the union is interested in investing in the headquarters hotel.

“He said it from the podium,” Dean Stratouly, the developer of 33 Arch Street and a member of the state board that oversees the convention center project, tells GlobeSt.com. “He said this was the first of many projects in which the unions are coming together with private developers and they are even interested in the convention center hotel.”