Center City Committee/Articles

UMass Lowell has offered to buy the DoubleTree Hotel for $15 million from its Rhode Island-based owner, The Procaccianti Group. Chancellor Marty Meehan expects that the deal will be completed soon. SUN / JON HILL

LOWELL -- Say goodbye to the DoubleTree Hotel and hello to the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center.

Yesterday, in a 90-minute meeting with The Sun's editorial board, UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan said he "believes strongly" that the university's offer to purchase the hotel for $15 million from its Rhode Island-based owner, The Procaccianti Group, will be accepted, perhaps as early as next week.

How confident is Meehan? The university is already discussing with students the nine-story, 252-room facility as a housing option for next September.

"The inn and conference center will transform this key facility in the heart of the downtown into the social, cultural and intellectual hub that was imagined in 1986 when the hotel opened," Meehan said.

A takeover by the university would bring big changes to a hotel that has long been plagued by empty rooms and financial difficulties.

Two city councilors concerned about the loss of tax revenue said they will file motions for Tuesday's City Council meeting to learn more about the proposal.

Also, Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield and the city's chief tourism official both said they were concerned about Lowell losing a piece of its "destination city" identity.

Meehan said the deal has been a year in the making and has received the blessing of UMass President Jack Wilson and the board of trustees.
When contacted Wednesday, Ralph Izzi, Procaccianti's spokesman, said he would look into the matter before making a public statement. Izzi never called back and didn't return a subsequent message left at his office yesterday.

Under terms of the proposed deal, the UMass Lowell Building Authority will borrow the money needed to purchase the hotel. The building authority, which would own the inn, would also borrow an extra $4 million to complete renovations to the lobby.

'The inn and conference center will transform this key facility in the heart of the downtown into the social, cultural and intellectual hub that was imagined in 1986 when the hotel opened.' UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan

Under Meehan's plan:
* Only upperclassmen, graduate students and foreign students would reside at the hotel. Freshmen would live in existing residence halls. Inn and conference center housing would cost $5,800 a year, the same as other facilities. About 200 students would live at the inn, two per room.

* When school is not in session, all 252 rooms will be available for public use. A number of rooms will also be reserved for the general public when school is in session, but that number hasn't been determined.

* The Lowell National Historical Park will operate some functions from the inn, all in an effort to get students and their families acquainted with Lowell's rich history.

Built in 1985 as the Hilton Hotel, the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Lowell has had several owners over the years. It has struggled financially. SUN / JON HILL

* The university, facing a student housing crunch, would no longer have to house students at a Nashua hotel, as was done this year.
The inn and conference center, Meehan said, will be the vehicle that finally connects UMass Lowell's South, North and East campuses to downtown -- something many people have talked about for years.

"The inn and conference center will create a college town," said Meehan, further noting it will complement the downtown residential and artists' community.

Meehan also said the inn will provide the region with "high-quality" conference facilities "that will attract a stream of visitors, showcasing city shopping and dining to hundreds of local, national and international business and educational leaders annually."

Hotel's troubled history
The hotel was built as a Hilton Hotel in 1985 by developer Arthur Robbins, who worked closely with then-City Manager Joseph Tully and the late U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas to make it happen.
But in the years since, the hotel has had a legacy of financial turmoil. Occupancy has been a problem, with a large percentage of the DoubleTree's rooms empty for long stretches at a time. The hotel's food and function services have garnered mixed reviews.

In 1990, after a bitter debate, the City Council voted against forgiving the Urban Development Action Grant loan the city gave to Robbins to build the hotel. A reconsideration vote failed just a couple weeks later, when then-City Councilor Raymond Rourke decided against joining those councilors who supported forgiving the loan.

In June 1990, Coast Savings & Loan bought the hotel at a foreclosure auction for $16 million. In 1992, Rajni "Ron" Patel purchased the hotel for about $2.5 million.

Several years ago, Middlesex Community College offered about $10 million to purchase the hotel, in hopes of running it as such while students learned about hotel management and culinary arts. The offer was rejected.

Meehan envisions MCC having a big role in the inn and conference center, as at least one floor would be reserved for its hotel-management program.

MCC College President Carole Cowan said she is looking forward to the partnership.

"We see it as a wonderful opportunity to expand the offerings not only to our student population, but also to our business partners, many of whom we have enjoyed longstanding working relationships with," said Cowan.

"Right now, with our enrollment numbers on the rise and the economy in the shape it's in, we're seeing larger numbers of students looking for new job-training skills," she said. "Being able to use a neighboring facility to potentially expand our academic programs is a win for us and a win for our students."

Meanwhile, Councilors James Milinazzo, chairman of the Economic Development Subcommittee, and Rita Mercier both said they're intrigued by what they're hearing. But they're also concerned about the loss of tax revenue.

In the current fiscal year, the DoubleTree -- which is assessed at $7.7 million -- generated $183,111 in property taxes, plus another $11,000 in taxes on furniture and fixtures.

In 2008, the DoubleTree and the 108-room Courtyard by Marriott on Industrial Avenue generated $292,716 in room taxes for the city. With the city facing a substantial budget deficit for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, and likely in subsequent years, Milinazzo and Mercier say the city is in no position to take such a big hit in the tax base.

Meehan said the room tax will continue to be paid. However, he said the loss of tax revenue would be offset by the economic development that a busy inn and conference center would create downtown.