Tocci, Claremont Debut New Boston Hilton Hotel

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Homewood Suites by Hilton, Boston

Boston—A new Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel has been completed in Brookline, Mass., it was announced last Friday by Tocci Building Cos. of Woburn, Mass., the project’s construction manager. The 130-key, 101,996-square-foot hotel was built on behalf of the owner, the Claremont Cos. of Bridgewater, Mass.

Sited at a transit-friendly location at 111 Boylston St., the hotel is part of Hilton’s upscale, all-suite, extended-stay brand. Design features reportedly include a complex façade material with transitions from masonry, glass and composite panels; an array of earth-toned clapboard; gardens; terraces with year-round plantings areas; and a swimming pool.

The building is five stories high along Boylston Street, but steps down to respect the neighborhood beyond the MBTA tracks that run behind the hotel. “We designed the hotel to minimize the shadow effect on surrounding residents in the area and maximize architectural interest,” Tocci’s chief enabling officer, John Tocci, said in a prepared statement.

The site presented significant environmental and logistic hurdles, according to Tocci. The building occupies the entire lot and the hotel’s front face extends to the curb of Boylston Street, which required more extensive soil removal and remediation than expected.

In addition, the MBTA tracks behind the hotel are less than 15 feet away, which restricted major work to the early morning hours of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Adding further complexity, historic brick culverts and clay utility lines beneath the site reportedly required “meticulous coordination.”

The project team included architects Group One Partners Inc. and mechanical and electrical engineers R.W. Sullivan Engineering.

Neither Tocci, Claremont nor Hilton responded to Commercial Property Executive’s requests for additional information.

The newest Homewood Suites to actually open, at the end of August, was the Homewood Suites by Hilton Trophy Club Fort Worth North, a 110-key property at 2900 E. Highway 114. Developed by Trophy Lodging Ltd. and managed by U.S. Hospitality Management, it offers a mix of studio and one-and two-bedroom accommodations.

There are now 400 Homewood Suites locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.