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Kenmore revival: Boston University President Jon Westling greets
Mayor Thomas Menino at a topping-off ceremony for the new Hotel Commonwealth
in Kenmore Square on November 2. The six-story luxury hotel at 500 Commonwealth
Ave., developed by Great Bay Holdings with Boston University as a limited
partner, is scheduled to open in September 2002. Construction plans call
for 150 European-style guest rooms and suites, seven function rooms, a
French bistro, and several new shops fronting on the sidewalk. Developers
say the project will create more than 200 jobs. "The Hotel Commonwealth
is one of the hallmarks of the city's revitalization efforts in Kenmore
Square," Menino said in his remarks at the ceremony. "It will
help return this neighborhood to its original splendor." Kenmore
Square was once home to some of the city's most stately hotels, which
provided luxury guest rooms for visiting sports teams and celebrities.
Complementing the new hotel will be a state-funded project designed to
make Kenmore Square safer for pedestrians and improve the flow of traffic.
This initiative, which calls for a realignment of the Brookline Avenue
intersection with Commonwealth Avenue, will also make aesthetic improvements
to the area: at the T bus station, an arching transparent glass-and-steel
canopy will replace the present brick-and-concrete bunker. Other enhancements
include more than 80 tree plantings, brick sidewalks and promenades, and
new streetlights of the same turn-of-the-century gaslight style as those
adorning the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky
9
November 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations