Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences, part of world hospitality group Accor, topped off on 3 March, 2022, reaching 35 floors and raising a final beam decorated with a Raffles flag and a Travelers’ Palm Tree. To commemorate the milestone, hundreds of construction workers joined local developers Jordan Warshaw (The Noannet Group) and Gary Saunders (Saunders Hotel Group), their partners at Cain International, the privately held investment firm led by Jonathan Goldstein, Suffolk, the construction management firm, The Architectural Team, Inc. (TAT), and Madison Realty Capital.
By securing the air rights over the adjoining University Club, Raffles Boston was able to build a 35-story building employing a cantilever structure designed by Boston-based structural engineers McNamara Salvia. TAT and McNamara Salvia created an innovative structural system utilizing a combination of concrete superstructure and massive steel trusses, all supported by a series of 130 feet (39.6 meters) long concrete caissons anchored in bedrock. With the completion of the building’s structure, the project team is now finalizing the installation of its glass curtainwall façade, marking another important step towards opening.
Raffles Boston will provide over US$22 million in public benefits in total, including street and public realm improvements, seven on-site affordable housing units and a contribution of over US$13 million that will support additional affordable housing in Boston.
Targeting completion by early 2023, the project will feature 147 guestrooms and 146 residences joined by 16 distinct gathering spaces. Highlights within the 16 gathering spaces include six food and beverage venues, a three-story Sky Lobby perched high above Copley Square, a Raffles Spa, a 20-meter indoor pool and fitness center, a rooftop garden terrace lounge, a variety of intimate residents-only gathering places, and a dramatic ballroom with expansive views over the Charles River.
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