Harbinger Development receives Boston Planning and Development Agency approval for Marine Wharf

Boston, MA The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) voted unanimously to approve Marine Wharf, a new 411-room hotel by Harbinger Development, LLC on Summer St. in the Seaport District’s Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park that will include two Hilton concepts, a Hampton Inn and a Homewood Suites.

The hotels, stepped back from the Reserved Channel and rising from 5 to 14 floors, will have an address of 660 Summer St., located on an unused parcel at the Drydock Ave. entrance to the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in the South Boston Seaport neighborhood.

With two hotel flags, the building also will have ground-floor commercial and retail uses, with gathering space on the roof that features views. Marine Wharf will provide newly enhanced open space, an improved pedestrian experience around the site, and better connections to existing streets and water transportation facilities, including a dock next to the hotel with service for Outward Bound to Thompson Island.

Rendering of Marine Wharf - Boston, MA

Harbinger, a Boston-area real estate development firm founded and operated by Eamon O’Marah, was granted development rights to the land by the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation and will lease it for 99 years. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2017, an opening early in 2019.

“We are thrilled to move our Marine Wharf project forward to the next phase and to construction,” said O’Marah. “Marine Wharf will create a dynamic gateway development that complements the area, as we have achieved a beautiful plan evoking the Marine Park and Cruiseport Boston and strategically ties into Summer Street and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.”

The project will provide multiple public benefits, including street-level retail space, new on-site open spaces, street trees and landscaping, and increased tax revenues and employment opportunities. The adjacent park is owned by the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, part of the BPDA. Harbinger will assume responsibility for maintaining that space.

The architect is a team from Perkins + Will of Boston, led by Robert Brown.

The addition of a 245-room select-service Hampton Inn and 166 rooms of extended-stay with the Homewood Suites brand will supply much-needed space for visitors to the nearby Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and visitors bound for events at other locations. It will transform an underused site, adding uses that will include a restaurant, lounge, and meeting space. There will be a total of 3,500 s/f of retail space.

The hotels will share elevators, check-in areas on the first floor, and a welcoming space on the third floor. Meeting and recreation space will include 8,000 square feet on lower floors and an additional 8,000-square-foot publicly accessible “Great Room” on the roof, enclosed but adjacent to a large outdoor area for seasonal use. The roof and terraces off many of the hotel rooms themselves will have spectacular views of Boston Harbor and the City of Boston.

The project is in an area that is experiencing rapid growth and improvement with increasingly active and diverse uses. The proximity to Black Falcon Terminal and Cruiseport Boston will allow the project to provide a variety of accommodations within walking distance to the more than 380,000 passengers who make use of Cruiseport Boston each year.

Harbinger Development is committed to building a LEED-certifiable project, incorporating sustainable design features into the project to preserve and protect the environment.

The hotels will be well served by public transportation, including the MBTA Silver Line. MBTA bus routes 4 and 7 make stops at the Summer Street/Drydock Avenue intersection, and the SL2 stops along Drydock Avenue at the Boston Design Center.

The hotels will have a total of 320,000 s/f. Amenities will include a fitness center and indoor pool. Parking is planned for 75 vehicles on the second floor.

Harbinger Development owns and is developing Marine Wharf. O’Marah was the developer of record for the Ames Hotel, a member of Ames Hotel Partners LLC; managing partner for the owner and developer that purchased the Jacob Wirth site on Stuart Street, initiated permitting, and later sold the project to Avalon Bay; and development adviser to the CV Properties and Ares, which developed two recently opened hotels on D Street in South Boston. O’Marah is an owner and partner in the development group that is scheduled to build a hotel on Parcel 9, on the Rose Kennedy Greenway near Faneuil Hall.

Harbinger Development, LLC is an internally capitalized real estate investment firm with the ability to fund pursuit, acquisition, entitlements and vertical development, with the necessary balance sheet to secure construction financing and guaranty completion as required by lenders. Harbinger Development offers advisory, sponsor and developer-investment, and third-party-investing services.