A spacious loft with high-end finishes, sweeping views…and a full service restaurant, spa and maid service? Sounds like a sybarite’s dream, but it’s fast becoming reality, due to the dramatic expansion of hotel flagships into mixed-use hotel and residential properties.Heretofore the downtown Boston market between 1980 and up to 2000 had only 2 combination residential and hotel flag properties – old Ritz (Carlton House) and the Four Seasons. Since 2000 the additional hotel flags that have arrived, are under construction or looking in the market include a 2nd Ritz, InterContinental, Mandarin, Regent and multiple brands / flags of Starwood including a W Boston and possibly a St. Regis.
It’s only a matter of time when more arrive as part of mixed use developments and it’s very exciting for Boston.
“The Four Seasons and the Ritz, the Fairmount hotels—they’re all ramping up their efforts in this area,” says Kevin Ahearn, president of Boston-area brokerage and marketing firm, Otis & Ahearn. “On the business end, it’s a win-win situation. The hotel is in the base of the building, which has less view, and thus less value for residential. The residential portion is above, which gives the hotel a built-in market for its services.”
And for the buyers, Ahearn says, it’s the services that win them over. “The fabulous spas and exercise facilities; the great restaurants and celebrity chef kind of appeal; the maid service and custodial amenities…that’s hard to beat.”
For affluent purchasers who travel frequently and may have second and third homes, there is also the appeal of the “lock-and-leave” security that such projects offer. “Prosperous retirees may spend time in Florida, and just want a nice place with no upkeep to land during the holidays, to see kids, etc.,” says Ahearn. “ And for empty nesters, coming in from the suburbs and still working, these places give great access to downtown and the workplace, and services that make their lives easier.”
