On June 11, the Beauport Hotel had its soft opening. The 115,000-sf facility, on the seacoast of Gloucester, Mass, is this city’s first full-service hotel. It features the largest meeting and conference space on Cape Ann, capable of handling gatherings up to 400 people; and a 3,327-sf grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 325 guests.
Located on a two-acre footprint on Pavilion Beach, Beauport Hotel, with 94 guest rooms and suites, sits where once was a fish fillet flash-freezing plant owned by Clarence Birdseye, but had been closed since 2003. The development group Beauport Gloucester LLC that includes New Balance Athletics’ chairman Jim Davis and is led by local developer Sheree Zizik, reportedly paid $6.5 million to purchase this property in 2012. The investors saw the transformation of this building as a catalyst for reshaping the identity of Gloucester’s future from a New England fishing town into a bustling and economically vibrant city.
Gloucester’s former Mayor Carolyn Kirk (who is now the deputy secretary of Massachusetts' office of housing and economic development) and its City Council backed this $50 million-plus design-build project, and the site’s rezoning dates back to 2008. But it took six years to get the hotel to the finish line, mainly because local residents who opposed the hotel wanted this site to be used instead to preserve seafood processing and other fishing-related activities.
What appears to have turned the community around was the outreach efforts by Lee Dellicker, president and CEO of Windover Construction, the project’s GC and Construction Manager. After listening to the community’s concerns, his firm agreed to pull back the building from the street, modify the seawall and curbing, and eliminate a walkway to the beach.
To allay fears about construction-related noise and traffic, Windover held regular meetings to keep the community abreast of activities. Police details monitored and managed traffic and deliveries to minimize disruption.
Windover had been involved in the hotel’s development from the early stages of property acquisition and permitting. It was responsible for pre-planning, budgeting, design, scheduling, and hiring the architectural and interior design team. It also managed procurement.
The Building Team included Olson Lewis + Architects (architect), Niemitz Design Group (interior design), Roy Spittle Associates (EE), Superior Plumbing & Heating (ME), Odeh Engineers (SE), GS Associates (FF&E consultant), and Beals Engineering (CE).
The 115,000-sf Beauport Hotel includes more than 10,000 sf of event space, the most of any facility on Cape Ann. Image: Peter Vanderwarker Photography
Demolition of the Birdseye plant began in June 2014, and the hotel broke ground the following November. Key construction aspects included erecting a 240-foot seawall along Pavilion Beach to protect the site from ocean flooding. The four-story hotel used podium construction, with structural steel for the lower two levels and wood framing for the upper two, raising the hotel’s main floor, at 14 feet above the ground, higher than flood level.
Beauport Hotel’s architectural design recalls the grand shingle style hotels that once occupied Gloucester’s coastline at the turn of the century. And any guest who wants a reminder of Gloucester’s past needs to look no further than next store, to Mortillaro’s Lobster Co., which annually ships close to five million pounds of live lobsters throughout the world.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million.
| Aug 11, 2010
First CityCenter projects earn LEED Gold
CityCenter announced today that it has received three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED Gold certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council for: 1) ARIA Resort's hotel tower; 2) ARIA Resort's convention center and theater; 3) Vdara Hotel. ARIA and Vdara will open in December on the Las Vegas Strip and are the first of CityCenter's developments to be LEED certified.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Whiting-Turner, EMJ Corp. top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 40 largest retail contractors
A ranking of the Top 40 Retail Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Nonprofit healthcare providers turn to real estate for liquidity and to preserve capital, says Jones Lang LaSalle report
Long considered to be stable investments immune to recession, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are now feeling the effects of a cash-strapped economy as decreased charitable contributions are forcing nonprofit hospitals to pare back and seek new financing sources, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2009 Healthcare Real Estate Financing Outlook.
| Aug 11, 2010
Callison, MulvannyG2 among nation's largest retail design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Retail Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Colorado hospital wins LEED Gold
The main building of the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo., is a 136-bed regional medical center offering a full spectrum of services, with specialties in cardiac and trauma care. Constructed primarily of brick, native sandstone, and 85,000 sf of metal panels manufactured by Centria, the 600,000-sf main building, by Denver-based HLM Design, is one of the few hospitals in the nati...
| Aug 11, 2010
Design ups comfort, care in cancer center
A new cancer center is slated to open in fall 2011 at Banner Gateway Medical Center, Gilbert, Ariz. The three-story, 120,000-sf, $107 million cancer center will contain physician clinics, medical imaging, radiation oncology, infusion therapy, and support services. A/E firm Cannon Design has created a visually open, column-free interior to increase patient comfort and care.
| Aug 11, 2010
Charlotte hospital expands its surgery capabilities
The Chicago office of RTKL designed Carolinas HealthCare System's Mercy Medical Plaza, Charlotte, N.C. The 150,000-sf hospital houses 12 operating rooms with expanded pre-operative and recovery space, a pharmacy, and a central sterile processing unit. Tenant space occupies 75,000 sf. RTKL mimicked the materials and mass of older buildings on the campus but created a more modern look by using ex...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.