The lure of the luxurious

Investors buy a controlling interest in Mandarin project

Prices at the Mandarin Oriental hotel aren't for the budget-minded: Published rates start at $625 and range up to $8,000 a night for a suite. (Wiqan Ang for The Boston Globe/File 2008)

Developers of Boston's Mandarin Oriental hotel have sold a controlling interest in the ultra-swanky new address on Boylston Street to an international consortium of investors represented by Anglo Irish Bank Corp., a person involved in the transaction said.

Robin Brown and Stephen R. Weiner sold the interest in the 148-room hotel, accompanying restaurant and retail space, and 35 rental apartments on Oct. 6, the same day the Mandarin Oriental complex officially opened for business.

Fifty Mandarin Oriental condominiums, purchased by individual owners for prices ranging from $2 million to $14 million, were not part of the transaction.

Brown said he and Weiner continue to own a "substantial and sizable" percentage of the block-long complex but would not be more specific.

He declined to say how much the new investors paid or at what price the transaction valued the Mandarin Oriental property. The construction cost for the entire development had been estimated at $300 million.

Anglo Irish Bank also supplied permanent financing for the complex, replacing original construction loans from Bank of America Corp. and HSBC Holdings Ltd., at the time of the sale.

"The confidence shown by our new investors and Anglo-Irish Bank bodes well for the continued, long-term success of the project," Brown and Weiner said in a statement.

"We look forward to the continued positioning of Mandarin Oriental as one of Boston's premier destinations for luxury living, dining, and shopping."

Brown and Weiner spent more than a decade working on plans to develop the site, part of the Prudential Center complex. A standard of luxury rarely seen in Boston - and prices to match - made the Mandarin Oriental an immediate center of attention that challenged the city's traditional expressions of wealth.

The hotel, managed by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and its five-star service are expensive in anyone's book. Published rates start at $625 for the smallest guest room. A 2,600-square-foot suite is offered for $8,000 per night. Among the hotel's elegant extras: lobby lithographs, a grand staircase, wood engravings, and artworks by artists Bostonians might otherwise see at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Hotel guests and Mandarin Oriental residents also share an address with the renowned restaurants L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre. The luxe retailer Frette, a purveyor of Italian linens, has opened in the complex, and Gucci plans to open soon. A spa on the premises comes in at 16,000 square feet.

The Mandarin Oriental condominiums, among the most expensive in Boston, sold briskly. Buyers included FleetBoston Financial Group's former chief, Charles K. Gifford, who spent $3.5 million for his unit, and auto dealer Herb Chambers, who shelled out $6.5 million. Some owners spent millions more on customized upgrades.

Though the 14-story complex quickly became a hit with residents, the development proceeded slowly for years and ran into one final hitch as it got closer to completion early this year. A four-alarm fire damaged about a dozen hotel rooms in March, delaying the grand opening by about three months.

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com. Steven Syre can be reached at syre@globe.com.