The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has received two pitches to build the all-important pair of hotels along the all-important D Street in the Hub's No. 1 neighborhood. Greg Turner at The Herald has the goods: "The proposals came from Commonwealth Ventures —the Southport, Conn., firm that owns the Channel Center complex on the other side of the convention center—and Carpenter & Co., the Cambridge firm that transformed the Charles Street Jail into the Liberty Hotel."
Commonwealth, with New York-based partner Area Property Partners, wants to build a 275-room Aloft brand hotel and a 175 Element brand extended-stay inn alongside. Carpenter would put up a Hyatt Place with 300 rooms and then a Hyatt House with 200. Both proposals come at or close to the 500 rooms total anticipated for the 5.6-acre site at 371-401 D Street.
Never mind that the pair of hotels will add to the hospitality boom going on about the convention center itself. They will also—and more importantly—help turn D Street into a busier connector for the New Southie of the Innovation and Seaport districts and the Old Southie of bad reality TV. Wicked.
· Two Developers Bid to Build Convention Center Hotels [Herald]
· Connecting Southie—Brought to You by the Letter D [Curbed Boston]
· Inn D-mand! More Development Along Crucial Southie Corridor [Curbed Boston]
· The Curbed Cup Neighborhood of the Year: South Boston! [Curbed Boston]