Marriott Courtyard Hotel plans move forward at Unicorn Park
Published on June 28th, 2000
WOBURN, MA - If all goes as planned, the new hotel proposed for the Unicorn Park office park off Montvale Avenue near Interstate 93 at the Stoneham line will be a 186-room Courtyard by Marriott.
CSM Lodging, an affiliate of CSM Corp. of St. Paul Minne-sota, announced this week it submitted an application for site plan and special permit approval with the city.
The new hotel would be located at 700 Unicorn Park Drive, and is the last piece of development in the East Woburn/ Stoneham border office park.
The announcement said civil engineers for the project, Rizzo and Associates, "anticipate breaking ground this fall and opening in the winter of 2001."
Local attorney Joseph Tarby, of the Woburn offices of Murtha, Cullina, Roche, Carens & DeGiacomo, is representing the project as it works its way through the permitting process.
In the announcement, CSM officials noted Unicorn Park is "an exciting area undergoing growth in an already strong office market."
"As an alternative to downtown (Boston)," said Steve Dubbs, vice president lodging for CSM, "Unicorn Office Park offers convenient location and easy access to the 128 high-tech corridor."
The proposed hotel will have guest rooms with king-size or two queen-size beds, separate seating areas with sofa beds, and large work desks with two telephones equipped with dataports.
Other amenities include meeting rooms, a business center, an indoor pool and whirlpool, an exercise room, a full service restaurant and cocktail lounge.
The hotel is aimed at "business travelers looking for moderately priced accommodations with a location that is close to centers of business, as well as offering convenient access to restaurants and local attractions," the announcement noted, but is "also a great place for leisure travelers."
CSM Lodging, L.L.C., owns and operates 21 hotels and is currently developing an additional 25 across the country, including one in Natick.
CSM Corp., founded in 1976, and its affiliates currently are the owners, managers or leasing agents for more than 4,500 apartment and townhouse units, 21 shopping centers and 10 million square feet of office and warehouse space.
Marriott operates hotels across the United States and in 53 other countries and territories, under the Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and several other brand names.
The hotel will need a special permit from the City Council as well as a zoning change to allow its proposed height in proximity to a residential area, as well license approval from the License Commission.
Proponents feared the recent zoning changes reducing the maximum floor-area ratio would make the hotel project less financially attractive, but the creation of an overlay district which essentially exempts the Unicorn Park project is scheduled for a public hearing, probably July 18, and is expected to pass.
Unicorn Park developers have agreed to provide funding for a variety of projects including recreational amenities at Leland Park in East Woburn and traffic studies/improvements along the Montvale Avenue/Washington Street corridor.
This Courtyard by Marriott would be the second in Woburn (there is already one currently located off Mishawum Road near the TGIFriday's restaurant and the Logan Express terminal); as well, it is one of two new hotels slated for construction in the East Woburn area. A Comfort Inn has been approved for the site between the old Registry of Motor Vehicles and Atlantic Gelatin.
They would join Woburn's already booming hotel business, which includes a Crowne Plaza, a Hampton Inn, a Howard Johnson hotel, a Red Roof Inn, a Ramada Inn, a Sierra Suites, a Susse Chalet, and the existing Marriott Courtyard.
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