In June of this year, the Emerald Lounge bar in the Revere Hotel in the Theater District opened to much fanfare. There was coconut shrimp, lobster rangoon and sliders, plus something called the Emerald Punch, which combined everything from Hennessy to Blue Curacao and ginger beer. The hotel itself had opened to similar fanfare a few months earlier as the sort of luxury boutique downtown Boston would need more of—356 rooms enwombed in what the developer labeled "livable glamour" (yup, English spelling and all). Might the Revere and its lounge soon have a neighbor?
It's all very tentative, but the vacant three-story building next to the Revere has just traded hands for $3.3 million... to the developer of the Revere. New York-based Northwood Investors tells The Herald's Greg Turner "we do not currently have definite plans and are evaluating all of our options." But c'mon: the vacant 212 Stuart Street, once fated to be a 10-story commercial building until the developer behind that plan went belly up, seems to be in too prime a spot to remain that way for much longer. Not in development-crazy Boston.
The building, and an adjoining parking lot once part of the planned commercial development, sits beside a pedestrian-only piece of Church Street that's a gateway into Bay Village south of Stuart Street. "The neighborhood," Ken Ham, president of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, told Turner, "would be happy if the parking lot and empty building were gone because it's just an eyesore." Stay tuned.
· Revere Hotel's Owner Rides Onto Site Next Door [Herald]
· Emerald Lounge Blasts Into Openness [Eater Boston]
· Our Updated New Development Heatmap: Then There Were 50 [Curbed Boston]