Hotel developer announces deal with Hilton Garden Inn

An architect’s rendering of the proposed hotel and restaurant on Royall St. (Courtesy of Group One Partners Inc.)

After receiving widespread support from the community and breezing through the approval process with the planning and zoning boards, the developer of a soon-to-be constructed hotel on Royall Street has taken another big step toward realizing its vision, announcing last week that it has struck a deal with Hilton Garden Inn to be the hotel operator.

While no timetable has been set on the completion of the project, Howard Neff of Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, which is developing the hotel under the subsidiary Royall Development LLC, said that he hopes to have a “shovel in the ground” sometime this year and that they are pleased to be teaming with a respected brand such as Hilton on this new venture.

“We’ve been working with the community and the town to make sure it not only fits in and meets the needs of the corporate headquarters in the area, but also that we’ve taken into consideration the neighborhood and traffic [impacts],” said Neff. “So what we are building there is a product that’s not going to create any additional peak traffic while also blending into the environment.”

The new hotel will be constructed on a three-acre parcel between the headquarters of Boston Mutual and Reebok International and will consist of 138 rooms along with a fully automated board room and additional conference room space. The project will also include an upscale restaurant on the ground floor with a separate entrance, although Neff said the operator of the restaurant is still to be determined.

Regarding the hotel, Neff said that the Garden Inn brand is Hilton’s new design concept and one that is ideally suited for the Canton site with its lower building profile and “traditional look.”

“We tried to develop something that would meet all of the [community’s] requirements and would not be an eyesore,” Neff said. “We wanted something that would really look nice.”

Hilton itself bills the Garden Inn brand as an upscale yet affordable lodging option that caters to “today’s busy traveler.” The hotels boast amenities that help their guests stay “productive on the road,” including ergonomic desk chairs, complimentary Wi-Fi, state-of-the-art fitness centers, and 24-hour business centers. The brand initially launched in 1996 with four locations and has expanded in the 20 years since to more than 650 locations across the globe.

In Canton, the new Hilton Garden Inn will be the town’s second hotel, joining Homewood Suites, which is located nearby at 50 Royall Street. An extended-stay hotel and another Hilton brand, Canton’s Homewood Suites features 98 rooms and became the first hotel to operate in the town in more than a century when it was completed in the fall of 2011.

Neff said the success of Homewood Suites is actually what inspired Boston Mutual to build a second hotel in the area as the demand for rooms greatly exceeded the available supply. He noted how all of their corporate neighbors, including Reebok, Dunkin Brands and Computershare, all have lodging needs for traveling employees and clients and were all unanimously in support of the plan for a second hotel.

Neff estimated that a significant percentage of the occupancy at the new hotel will come from the business community on Royall Street; however, he said there are numerous benefits for the entire town, including a new “high-end” dining option for local residents.

Neff said the community will also benefit from higher tax revenues, bolstered by a room occupancy tax that goes directly to the town. Between the room tax, additional meals tax, and property tax, Neff said the town will stand to net approximately $600,000 from the property once the project is complete and operational.

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