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BUSINESS NEWS RAFFLES BOSTON BACK BAY HOTEL & RESIDENCES BREAKS GROUND Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences broke ground in September, writing a new story for both the Raffles Hotels & Resorts brand and the city of Boston. Projected to open in early 2022, the 33-story, $400 million project will be the first mixed-use property in North America for the world-renowned and iconic hospitality brand. Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences will be located at 40 Trinity Place, Boston, MA. The flagship North American property will be a welcoming oasis within the heart of the city, blending Raffles’ sense of adventure, glamour and style, gracious and intuitive hospitality, and thoughtful, locally inspired design with the cosmopolitan charm of the Back Bay. Featuring 147 guestrooms, 146 branded residences and six food and beverage venues, Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences joins Raffles’ prestigious collection of 14 individually unique and timeless properties located in the world’s most fascinating cities and vibrant destinations. The project will provide over $22 million in public benefits in total, including street and public realm improvements, seven on-site affordable housing units and a contribution of over $13 million that will support additional affordable housing in Boston. Mayor Martin Walsh applauded the development and pointed to its public benefits, stating, “Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences will create job opportunities for our residents, and improved street and pedestrian connections in the Back Bay. In addition to the creation of seven on-site income- restricted units, the project will provide over $13 million to support affordable housing. I am
pleased that Accor chose Boston as its first home in North America for a Raffles Hotel & Residences. I thank all of the partners involved for their vision, hard work and collaboration on this transformational Back Bay project.” Known and loved as an oasis for the well- traveled, the first Raffles opened its doors in 1887 in Singapore. For more than a century, Raffles has set the standard for exceptional hospitality, playing host to remarkable cultural moments, and serving as a haven for royalty, film stars, writers and artists. Catering to the most discerning travelers and residents, Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences will offer personal and discreet service, unparalleled charm and extraordinary adventure that are synonymous with the Raffles name. Architecture and design are distinguishing elements of all Raffles properties. Every hotel within the portfolio is unique, with its own sense of place – each carefully designed and tastefully decorated to create a warm, welcoming and cultured ambiance infused with a local essence. To bring the Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences vision to life, a team of award-winning architecture and design experts have been appointed to give the new property an inviting personality that is uniquely “of Boston.” Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences will reveal a remarkable and dramatic exterior designed by Boston- based architectural firm The Architectural Team, Inc. , as well as stunning hotel interiors fashioned by Stonehill Taylor, and stylish and refined residential interiors created by Rockwell Group. The hotel will feature exciting public spaces, including a two-story sky lobby perched high above Copley Square, six distinct food and
beverage venues, a state-of-the-art Raffles Spa with an indoor pool and fitness club, a magnificent rooftop garden terrace and lounge, and impressive meeting and pre- function space. The hotel will boast grand botanical displays throughout the property, and deliver handcrafted personalized experiences designed for local guests and international visitors to meet, stay, shop, dine and celebrate. The Residences will include a distinctive array of pied-a-terre suites, one- to three- bedroom homes, and striking penthouses with impeccable views. Between the hotel and residences, there will be sixteen separate gathering spaces ranging from quiet and intimate to vibrant and social, including a variety of special venues dedicated solely to building residents. Located on the corner of Stuart Street and Trinity Place, Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences is destined to reinforce the Back Bay as a first-class international neighborhood. Situated next to The University Club and conveniently adjacent to the Boston Back Bay train station, it is also within a block of Copley Square, Fairmont Copley Plaza, Trinity Church, and premiere upscale shopping at Copley Place. Many other notable Boston attractions are also within a short walking distance, such as the world-renowned shops and galleries of Newbury Street and the Prudential Center, Fenway Park, the Museum of Fine Arts, Symphony Hall, the Charles River Esplanade, and dozens of award-winning restaurants. The Architectural team, Inc. is a 90-person architecture firm is driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, exceptional design and an unyielding focus on achieving client objectives.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 3
❚ ❚ Dedicate resources for experimentation. As all of us who own entrepreneurial ventures know, you can’t eat all your seed corn or you won’t have a crop next year. You need to earmark some funds for R&D and for experiments with new service or product lines, or business units that could create growth for the company. And some of this money must be made available to your best intrapreneurs if you want to keep them. ❚ ❚ Eliminate needless bureaucracy and draconian policies. Again – if you look at what drives entrepreneurs to do their own thing you will find they too often become frustrated with what they perceive as needless meetings or approval processes for small purchases, or strict rules about when to work or how to dress. Intrapreneurs are wired similarly. Why run them off just because you have always done things a certain way? Entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs – it’s in your interest to acknowledge there isn’t much difference. We all need a certain number of them in our businesses if we want our companies to stay competitive and grow. MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
the business performs, they should benefit from it just as they would if they were the real owners of the enterprise. That means paying out a certain percentage of your profits to everyone who’s there – and not through the profit sharing or retirement plan, but rather through bonuses. “Entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs – it’s in your interest to acknowledge there isn’t much difference. We all need a certain number of them in our businesses if we want our companies to stay competitive and grow.” ❚ ❚ Give people opportunities to act. One reason people start businesses of their own is they want some independence. Recognize that your intrapreneurs are wired similarly. They, too, want a chance to work independently on something and not be micromanaged. You have to be sure your intrapreneurs have these kinds of opportunities or you will lose them.
© Copyright 2019. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.
THE ZWEIG LETTER October 28, 2019, ISSUE 1318
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