While plans to redevelop the long derelict Alexandra Hotel are progressing, the developer needs final planning department (BPD) approvals and financing.

Developer Thomas Calus said during an April 23 public meeting that they’re in talks with several institutions to fully secure financing for the project and did not have an official start date, saying only that they were ready to get started as soon as they could.

“We’ve worked on the project for many many years now and we love this plan, and we think it’s going to be a great, successful project,” said Calus. “So we’d like to start as soon as possible, we don’t have a date yet.”

The open comment period for the project ended on April 30. Once public comment is over, staff review those comments and determine the next steps, said Brittany Comak, assistant communications director for the planning department. Once there is a consensus on whether the project is ready to move forward, it will be brought to the BPD board for consideration.

Following BPD approval, the project will then need to go through the city permitting process, handled by the Inspectional Services Department.

Developers intend to turn the historic building on the corner of Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave), as well as the vacant lot next door, into a boutique hotel with a café and restaurant on the ground floor.

According to the small project review application developers plan to remodel the interior of the building, in its current state suffering from both fire and water damage and restore the existing High Victorian- Gothic façade.

Exterior restoration efforts would include repairing and cleaning the exterior sandstone, replacing much of the existing metal fixtures, and installing new, historically accurate windows. The comparatively modern looking addition, which will serve in part as the lobby/café area of the hotel, intends to complement the original building with earth tone colors and archway entrance. The addition will take the approximate size of a traditional brownstone.

The building will combine the existing 27,200 square foot structure with a 12,100 square foot addition using the spot vacant lot next door along Washington Street and provide 68 rooms between its second through fifth stories.

The redevelopment would also include improvements to the area surrounding the hotel such as pedestrian activation of the sidewalk, a range of improvements to the Comet Place alleyway directly behind the building and a concrete curb protected bike lane along Mass Ave.

The existing bus stop at Washington Street will remain where it is and be unaffected by construction, guest drop-off parking is planned to be just passed the stop, and a Bluebike station is planned to be placed across the hotel on Washington.

“This really is the chance to bring this beautiful building landmark back to life,” said to Cindy Lee, architect at Embarc.

The building’s ground floor was home to retail stores and floors two through five had two apartments each, according to Lee. That residential space has been vacant for nearly 50 years. Redevelopment plans for the project have shifted since being purchased from the Church of Scientology in 2019, first being proposed as a hotel, then residential units, back to a hotel and now to a smaller impact hotel. While the footprint of the plans are similar, previous iterations looked to add several stories of height to the building.

“As compared to the prior approved hotel, this is literally about half the size. About half the number of rooms, half the square footage. Of course, the, what was controversial, tower portion on top of the historic building is gone,” said Marc Lacasse, legal counsel for the project development team.

“So now it’s just a restoration and rehabilitation of the existing building, and a small, relatively small, infill construction on the vacant parcel.”