Electra America Hospitality Group acquires historic boutique hotel in Boston’s Back Bay

BOSTON, August 22, 2022 – JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group announced today that it has closed the sale of and arranged acquisition financing for the former Loews Boston Hotel, a 225-key, AAA Four Diamond-rated boutique hotel in Boston, Massachusetts’ Back Bay.

JLL marketed the hotel on behalf of the seller in the sale to Electra America Hospitality Group. In addition, JLL worked on behalf of the buyer to secure the loan through Oxford Properties Group. The buyer plans to brand the property as Hotel AKA Back Bay, marking AKA’s first hotel in the city.

Built in 1924 as the Boston Police Headquarters before converting into a boutique hotel in 2004, the 10-story building now offers a mix of traditional guest rooms and three suites. The hotel features an exercise room, 4,300-square-feet of meeting space, valet parking and the Precinct Kitchen + Bar. The hotel has received the AAA Four Diamond Rating and was selected for TripAdvisor’s 2021 Travelers’ Choice Awards.

The hotel is centrally located in Boston’s popular Back Bay neighborhood, within close walking distance to an abundance of dining, retail and entertainment options, as well as numerous art galleries, museums, private clubs and the Boston Public Library. The hotel benefits from its accessibility via Interstates 93 and 90 connecting Back Bay with the greater Boston region. In addition, the property is one block from Back Bay Station, which provides Amtrak services to all major destinations on the east coast, including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The hotel is also proximate to other subway and commuter rail service lines. Furthermore, Boston’s Logan International Airport is 4.5 miles from the property.

The JLL Hotels & Hospitality team working on behalf of the seller was led by Senior Managing Director Jeffrey Davis, Managing Director Alan Suzuki, Director Matthew Enright and Analyst Noelle DesLauriers.

“This transaction represented a rare opportunity to acquire an irreplaceable and historic hotel in Boston’s Back Bay during a period when the Boston market continues to experience a strong resurgence in lodging demand. We are thrilled with the result of what was a tremendously important transaction for our client,” said Jeffrey Davis.

“The strong response from the market for this opportunity demonstrated investor’s enthusiasm and conviction in the long-term fundamentals of the Boston lodging market,” said Suzuki.

The JLL Hotels & Hospitality team working on behalf of the borrower was led by Americas CEO Kevin Davis, Senior Vice President Barnett Wu and Senior Director Jonathan Schneider.

“While the debt capital markets remain volatile, there is still strong debt liquidity for high-quality assets in prime locations, backed by great sponsorship,” said Kevin Davis.

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has completed more transactions than any other hotels and hospitality real estate advisor over the last five years, totaling $83 billion worldwide. The group’s 350-strong global team in over 20 countries also closed more than 7,350 advisory, valuation and asset management assignments. Our hotel valuation, brokerage, asset management and consultancy services have helped more hotel investors, owners and operators achieve high returns on their assets than any other real estate advisor in the world.

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Electra America Hospitality Group is a $725 million real estate fund focused on opportunistic investments in luxury and upper-upscale independent hotels in major markets in the United States and Europe. Since inception in Q1 2021, the fund has purchased six assets in New York, NY; Washington, D.C.; Boston, MA; Miami, FL; West Palm Beach, FL and Alexandria, VA. Electra America is one of the fastest growing real estate owner-operators in the United States and boasts a portfolio of more than $6 billion of commercial real estate holdings in the multifamily, hospitality and single-family home rental sectors.