By Seth Daniel
A new hotel in the South End will begin major construction activities next week at the Ink Block, as a 200-room AC Hotels by Marriott takes shape at the corner of Herald and Albany Streets.
Gone is the old Boston Taxi building and the conglomeration of other such sites on Albany Street, and replacing those vestiges of the past are excavators preparing the site in order for foundation work.
“We are under construction now on the hotel,” said Ted Tye, managing partner for National Development. “We have demolished the two existing buildings on the site and are doing site preparation now. We are going to start driving piles for the foundation next week.”
The 200-room hotel is a Marriott brand purchased from a Spanish company that specializes in boutique hotels. The new-style hotel will feature great gathering spaces and more community-minded amenities.
Tye said the boutique style hotel is perfect for the Ink Block brand.
“We have tried to do something different in each building and there’s an edginess to it and AC Hotel has that same edginess to it,” said Tye. “It’s a perfect fit for what we’re trying to do here.”
The hotel will serve guests of those at the Ink Block and the greater South End, but also it is convenient to downtown Boston and only minutes from Logan Airport. It is also close to the Convention Centers.
All of those are strengths that Tye said drove the development of a hotel on the site.
“We have enough apartment buildings and we wanted to get something else,” he said. “The hotel is one piece of that mix.”
Work has begun on the new AC Hotel @ Ink Block and foundation work will begin next week. The hotel brand is a boutique style from Marriott.