Ex-Holiday Inn in Newton to be 'boutique' hotel

Normandy Real Estate Partners doesn't think Boston should have a monopoly on the area's chic hotels and hotel restaurants

The company, which last year bought the 40-year-old Holiday Inn Newton, is spending about $35 million to turn it into New England's first Indigo hotel.

When it opens in November, the 191-room Hotel Indigo Newton, gutted and rebuilt to modern tastes, will be the first of the InterContinental Hotels Group PLC's "boutique" line in the region.

InterContinental, which has the most hotel rooms in the world, owns the Holiday Inn and Indigo brands.

A steakhouse, called Prime 128, will open later this year in 3,500 square feet of former ballroom space in the seven-story building, overlooking Weston and Waltham along Route 128. The restaurant will be operated by The Aquitaine Group, which owns Aquitaine in the South End, the Armani Cafe and Union Bar and Grille in Boston, and Aquitaine Bis in Chestnut Hill.

"The somewhat business-traveler-oriented flags are pretty common up and down 128," said Justin Krebs, a principal of Normandy, a five-year-old real estate firm with more than 3 million square feet of property in Greater Boston. "We think this is a unique opportunity to bring something special."

The Holiday Inn opened in 1965 at Grove Street. Yesterday, new floor-to-ceiling windows were being installed, and an Indigo banner hung on the prominent 128 side. "Invite Inspire Intrigue," it read.

The hotel's wall surfaces, fixtures, heating and air-conditioning systems, and kitchen are being replaced, and a canopied entrance will be added. Normandy and development partner Blue Hawk Investments of Boston hired CBT Architects of Boston to oversee the makeover.

Room rates will be about $20 more than at most other limited-service hotels, but Krebs believes Indigo's extras will merit the additional cost. He said the hotel will boast convenient MBTA access, the new three-meal restaurant, and a pool that will be heated and open about six months of the year. The extensive common areas will be outfitted with comfortable chairs, flat-screen TVs, MP3 docking stations, and wired and wireless Internet access, he said.

Guest rooms will feature hardwood floors, and murals and rugs that will be changed seasonally. Environmentally conscious guests can opt not to have their linens changed and laundered daily, and a cogeneration plant will conserve electricity by reusing heat generated by some of the hotel's systems. The developers estimate the plant will save the hotel 30 percent on energy bills.

Normandy, of Morristown, N.J., which is also turning the historic Ames Building in Boston into a hotel, bought the property in June 2006 from Fine Hotels Corp. of Wellesley. It has hired Peabody Hotel Group, an experienced hotel operator, to run it under a 10-year lease. Peabody Hotel Group also developed the property as a Holiday Inn in the 1960s. It owns the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and operates the Crowne Plaza Boston in Natick.

Krebs said that the Indigo, one of about 10 nationwide, is designed to be welcoming. "You don't necessarily have to wear black and an Armani belt and shoes to feel comfortable," he said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.