Ritz-Carlton Boston Sells for $170M

BOSTON-Come Jan. 11, the city’s venerable Ritz-Carlton Boston will have a new name and a new owner. Millennium Partners has reached an agreement to sell the 273-room property across from the Boston Public Garden for $170 million to Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces of Mumbai, India. The 79-year-old Back Bay landmark will be renamed the Taj Boston once the deal closes.

“The Ritz-Carlton is one of New England’s finest hotels and a premiere social address in Boston,” says Raymond Bickson, managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels Co., which operates Taj Hotels. “Its rich heritage, superb location and grand architecture make it an ideal fit for Taj.”

New York-based Millennium purchased the 79-year-old Arlington Street property in 1999 for $122 million. It also owns the Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Towers Boston Common on Tremont Street, just a few blocks away.

Joseph McCann, president of Optimum Hotel Brokerage in Fairfield, CT, tells GlobeSt.com that the more than $620,000 per room price that the Ritz fetched was not unusual, given the strong international demand for premium hotels in gateway US cities. “It’s a trophy asset in an irreplaceable location and something that has cachet and would attract those type of asset buyers,” he says, noting that the per room sales price is still well below the more than $1 million per room paid for the 270-room W Hotel in New York’s Union Square, which sold in October to a Dubai-based company, as reported by GlobeSt.com.

Despite the change in name and ownership, Bickson says guest will notice no difference in service or amenities at the renamed Ritz. “Everyone in the hotel world is aware of the elegance and class that has distinguished the Ritz-Carlton Boston for generations,” Bickson says. “We are focused on making the Taj Boston experience a wonderful event for generations to come.”

Although no widespread management changes are expected, David Gibbons, the general manager of the Swissotel the Drake on New York’s Park Avenue, has been named general manager of the Taj Boston. Gibbons was previously the general manager at the former Swissotel Boston from 1992 to 2003.

The Taj Boston will be the second US hotel operated by the India-based chain, which has 57 hotels in India and 18 international hotel properties. Last year, Indian Hotels Co., signed a lease agreement to operate and manage the New York luxury hotel the Pierre, on Fifth Avenue. The Taj, which is among the largest hotel operators in Asia, is part of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerates with 90 companies covering industries that include communications, consumer products, chemicals, engineering and energy.

Officials from both Millennium Partners and Taj Hotels did not return calls from GlobeSt.com.