Peter Willis, acquisitions manager for Innkeepers, tells GlobeSt.com that the "market was very attractive to us with recent trends showing very positive results." Willis terms the acquisition "an opportunistic" purchase that allowed Innkeepers to get into the Boston market well below replacement cost. The city's convention business and the gentrification of the Bulfinch Triangle area also offered the firm the opportunity to reposition the hotel in the Boston market, he says. It is the second buy in Massachusetts for the REIT, which also owns the Hampton Inn Boston, located in Woburn.

Innkeepers Hospitality Management Inc. will take over management of the property from Clarion. The hotel also is home to the Angus Steakhouse.

The triangular-shaped site, located at 107 Merrimac St. near the BankNorth Garden and Faneuil Hall, was originally built in 1904 as a six-story industrial building. Three additional stories were added in December 2004. Modeled after the Flatiron building in New York City, the interior was designed by Campion Platt.

The Bulfinch is just one of several boutique hotels that have recently changed hands here. In May, Bethesda, MD-based LaSalle Hotel Properties acquired the 112-room Onyx Hotel, also located in the Bullfinch Triangle, for $28.6 million. Independent hotel developers have also turned at least four other Boston properties, including the former Boston Police Headquarters on Berkley Street, into boutique establishments. Two other boutique hotels are either under construction or in the planning states Downtown.