New rooms at the inns

Spurred by chronic room shortages, developers green-lighted a number of hotel projects a few years back only to derail them after the events of 9/11 and a soft economy devastated the tourism industry. With the economy sputtering forward and travelers once again hitting the road, some of the projects are back on track.

Another factor driving the mini boom is Boston's new Convention Center. The entire South Boston Seaport area is undergoing a transformation, and hotel construction figures prominently in the makeover. Perhaps the project with the highest profile is the 790-room Westin Boston Convention & Exhibition Center Hotel that recently broke ground. Although it has been scaled back from its original 1200-room plans, the $200 million hotel will be among New England's largest when it opens in 2006.

PHCC of Greater Boston contractor E. M. Duggan will be handling the Westin's plumbing work. Company President Paul Harrington says that a crew of up to 20 Local No. 12 plumbers will be on the site starting in November. With 2600 plumbing fixtures and features including huge banquet kitchens to accommodate 15,000 square feet of ballroom space, there will be much work to do.

"Because of our pre-fab capabilities, we offer high efficiency for repetitive work like the Westin," Harrington explains. "That's one of the reasons why we seek hotel projects. It's an important part of our jobs mix."

Luxury is in

Not all hotels fit the Westin mold. Whereas a handful of chains once dominated Boston's lodging market, and most of the properties resembled one another, today's hotels come in a wide variety and appeal to an array of niche audiences. Smaller boutique hotels, for example, generally forego function facilities and other full-service amenities but focus on well-appointed accommodations and eclectic design.

Cambridge's Hotel Marlowe, opened in 2003, is such a property. Duggan handled the HVAC, while J. C. Cannistraro, Inc. did the plumbing. "The rooms include leopard-skin furnishings," notes company President John Cannistraro, Jr. (Thankfully, there are no leopard-skin toilet seat covers--at least not yet.) He adds that hotel work like the Marlowe is becoming somewhat more complicated, with many of the newer properties calling for four-fixture bathrooms, including separate tub and shower stalls, on four separate walls. "Luxury is in these days," Cannistraro says.

J. F. Shine Mechanical, Inc. was the plumbing sub on another luxury boutique hotel, Nine Zero on Tremont Street in downtown Boston. Company President Nancy Shine says that the high-rise property had a confined construction footprint that posed challenges to her crew of Local No. 12 plumbers. With literally no on-site parking, deliveries had to be made before 7 a.m., and workers had to use public transportation. Also, since the building was constructed during the winter and exposed to the outside until near the end of the project, the plumbers couldn't test their work without risking frozen pipes. Nine Zero uses a Sovent system, with a common vent in the middle of the building for tie-ins. Since the emerging system was new to some of Shine's crew, Nancy said that it was good to gain the experience.

Speaking of luxury, Duggan also handled the recent renovation of Boston's grand dame, the Ritz Carlton. The classic 75-year-old hotel was overdue for a makeover. The crew removed the wet walls and roughing, and essentially gutted all of the bathrooms before installing new high-end fixtures.

A nation of travelers
The new construction is not all luxury accommodations. With Boston's biotech, high-tech, financial, and other companies attracting many travelling workers and consultants to the area, high-value, extended-stay properties are another hot concept taking hold here. Cannistraro recently completed work on two Marriott extended-stay hotels in Charlestown and Brookline.
Another trend is to pair hotels with condominium units, and sometimes retail and office space, for a "mixed-use" property. Sales of the high-end condos help make the hotel sides of the mixed-use deals sweeter for developers and financiers, while the condo residents can take advantage of the hotels' amenities. Cannistraro is the plumbing sub on the mixed-use 500 Atlantic Ave. in Boston. Other mixed-use projects in the pipeline include the Regent Battery Wharf and Mandarin Oriental, both in Boston.

Driven by business and leisure travel, the hospitality industry is a vital economic engine in the Boston area. "We've become a nation of travelers," says Cannistraro. "Ironically, the plumbing industry is one of the very few where traveling generally isn't required. But, we're happy to help build the hotels."

Next page: LMCT: A successful model
Complete Fall, 2004 newsletter (pdf file)