Developers say Covid-19 killed plans to turn the decrepit hulk of the historic Alexandra Hotel into a new hotel, so they're proposing small condos instead

The developers who won metropolis support successful 2019 to support 3 sides of the erstwhile Alexandra Hotel astatine Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue, gut the interior and adhd respective floors to make a 13-story, 150-room boutique edifice person filed a petition with the BPDA to alternatively crook what's near of the operation into a 13-story, 106-unit condo building.

In their request, developers Jas Bhogal and Thomas Calus said their chances of getting financing for their archetypal edifice task evaporated erstwhile the pandemic took clasp and the section edifice concern collapsed - conscionable a fewer months aft they received their past large approval, from the South End Landmark District Commission, successful 2019. In contrast, they say, financing remains imaginable for condo operation successful Boston.

Bhogal and Calus paid $11 cardinal for the gathering successful July, 2019 to the Church of Scientology, which had erstwhile hoped to crook the gathering into its Boston headquarters. Developers and owners person been proposing caller uses for decades for the erstwhile hotel, which opened successful 1875, with an antithetic steam-powered elevator. The hotel's diminution began with the operation of an elevated subway enactment down Washington Street successful 1900.

In their announcement of task alteration to the BPDA, the developers accidental they would clasp the aforesaid basal size and exterior primitively planned for the edifice - fundamentally a solid operation that would beryllium clad connected its little fractional connected 3 sides with the archetypal Alexandra facade. The 4th broadside would beryllium extended into what is present a vacant batch wherever the arsenic historical Ivory Bean gathering erstwhile stood, but which had to beryllium torn down aft pieces of it began raining down connected Washington Street.

Most of the units would beryllium "compact" studios and one-bedroom condos, smaller than usually allowed by the city, arsenic portion of a aviator programme to spot if smaller units tin assistance easiness Boston's occupation of lodging radical who are not financially good off. Some 14 of the units would beryllium sold arsenic affordable. The 13th floor, primitively planned arsenic a extortion deck, would alternatively person the building's sole 2-bedroom portion positive 3 smaller units and a deck, according to the plans.

As with their edifice plans, the developers accidental the building, which already has a Silver Line halt outside, would person nary parking. Residents would beryllium barred from obtaining parking permits for either the South End oregon Roxbury - which vicinity the gathering is successful has been the taxable of immoderate debate.

The BPDA volition hold a Zoom gathering connected the proposalat 6:30 p.m. connected Sept. 7.

Alexandra Hotel filings and calendar.

H/t Lisa for alerting america to this.