HFF Secures Huge Chunk of Change for Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Construction financing and joint venture equity totaling $680 million have been secured for the Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street, in Boston’s Back Bay, it was announced Thursday by HFF, which arranged the funding.

HFF worked on behalf of the tower’s developer, Carpenter & Co. Inc., to secure a $500 million construction loan through The Children’s Investment Fund Management (UK) L.L.P. Citi Private Bank raised $180 million in JV equity for the project.

The 61-story building reportedly will be the tallest to be constructed in New England since the early 1970s. The project, which broke ground last month, will consist of a 211-room Four Seasons luxury hotel occupying the first 23 floors and 180 high-end private residences on floors 25 through 61.

Residents of the latter will enjoy both exclusive residential amenities and full access to the hotel’s services and amenities, including two restaurants, two lounges and a private health club and spa featuring a 70-foot swimming pool sited along an exterior glass wall.

Both the hotel and residential entrances and lobbies will front a new park being developed across the street, and the site is adjacent to the 10-acre Christian Science Plaza. The property is close to Copley Place, the Prudential Center, the Boston Public Library, Symphony Hall and the Museum of Fine Arts and is served by the MBTA’s Green and Orange Lines.

Construction is expected to be completed in about two and a half years.

The tower was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in collaboration with Cambridge Seven Associates.

The HFF debt and equity placement team representing the borrower was led by senior managing director Riaz Cassum, executive managing director John Fowler and senior real estate analyst Robyn King.

“One Dalton will deliver an unmatched, super luxury product marked by iconic architecture, a coveted address and walkability to renowned Back Bay shopping and restaurants coupled with Four Seasons’ legendary hotel services, top-of-the-line amenities and dramatic panoramic views,” Cassum said in a release.

The project’s completion will make Boston one of only eight cities around the world that has more than one Four Seasons hotel, the others being London, Shanghai, Singapore, Istanbul, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The hospitality market in Boston should remain strong this year, driven by private-sector growth that will keep inbound business travel substantial and “sustain high weekday occupancy,” according to a 2015 market forecast by Marcus & Millichap. The city’s demand for rooms is anticipated to outpace the relatively modest growth of room supply, as overall hotel occupancy in New England continues to rise, by about 90 basis points this year, to approximately 65.2 percent.