Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The historic Alexandra Hotel bordering Roxbury and the South End has stood vacant for years.
Its owners hope to finally transform the building from eyesore to architectural gem with a proposal filed in late March with the Boston Planning and Developing Agency.
Since 2018, Thomas Calus and Jas Bhogul of the Alexandra Partners LLC have tried multiple times to redevelop the property at the intersection of Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue, only for delays and expenses to squander their plans.
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The duo's latest attempt appears to be the strongest: a 68-room hotel with retail and restaurants on the ground floor and a five-story addition on an adjacent vacant lot.
The project has the promise of $6 million in state grant funding to restore the hotel's façade, courtesy of Gov. Maura Healey's economic redevelopment bill signed last November.
1 of 2 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
2 of 2 Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
"This project is a catalyst for an area of the city that has, for the ten years that I’ve lived in the South End, been an absolute disaster given the spillover from Mass and Cass," community activist Jonathan Alds at a recent BPDA meeting. "This project is a generational opportunity."
"It’s a good idea," concurred community activist Louis Elisa during the meeting. "It’s good that we’re restoring and we’re saving and reclaiming the antiquities of the building, the historical value of it. We have some substantial things to discuss, particularly for the residents who live in the community, but in the long run at the end, we have a product that is worthwhile, and that the community will see the benefits in the long run."
An attorney for the owners told the Boston Globe he expected the BPDA board to vote on the proposal as soon as next month.
WBZ's Mike Macklin reports.
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