190-Room Nine Zero Hotel Opens

BOSTON-The Nine Zero hotel is opening in the heart of downtown at 90 Tremont St. This is the fourth hotel project owned and developed by Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.

The hotel will be managed by Destination Hotels & Resorts, which, with this hotel, is making its first appearance in the region. The 19-story hotel is located near the State House, the financial, theater and shopping districts and features three meeting rooms and high-speed wireless Internet access.

The property is one of a number of smaller hotel projects that were started about two years ago before the Sept. 11 terror attack and the current economic downturn. At the time, the city was looking to boost its number of hotel rooms to meet its requirement for the development of the new convention center in South Boston. The 1997 state law that authorized the development of the $850-million convention center required that 2,800 new hotel rooms by 2001 and an additional 4,800 rooms when the convention facility is scheduled to open, which will probably be in 2004.

While most of these smaller projects are completed or under way it is the 1,120-room headquarters hotel, which is considered vital to the success of the center, that is still encountering financing difficulties and its viability continues to remain a question.