Indian firm to pay $170m for Ritz-Carlton
For 79 years, the Ritz-Carlton Boston name has been a signature of luxury in the Hub, both for travelers and for locals who would splurge on tea, drinks, or meals in its elegant setting.
Now it will be a palace of a different name: the Taj Boston.
That will be the new name of the venerable hotel, according to new owner, the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a 103-year-old luxury hotel firm based in Mumbai, which agreed to purchase the Arlington Street hotel yesterday for $170 million.
"It still is Boston's landmark and will continue to be one of the grand hotels in the United States and the world," Raymond N. Bickson, managing director and chief executive of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd., which operates Taj hotels, said in an interview yesterday.
Bickson, who was in town , said major changes are not likely for the Ritz, since it recently underwent a $50 million renovation.
Taj is part of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate that formerly produced textiles.
Bickson met with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino on Wednesday, showing him brochures of Taj Exotica Resort & Spa in Mauritius and other gleaming palaces and hotels under the Taj name. He will meet with hotel employees on Monday, and the deal is scheduled to close -- along with the name change -- on Jan. 11.
The seller is Millennium Partners of New York, which also developed the newer Ritz-Carlton, on the other side of Boston Common. The companies have been in negotiations for a deal on the Arlington Street hotel for about a year. Millennium bought the older Ritz in 1999 for $122 million because it wanted to use the name on its new inn. No one from Millennium could be reached to comment.
Bickson said his company plans to reopen the Ritz's "iconic dining room" to the public. It was closed to the public in early 2005 to be used for private functions.
Taj owns or operates 75 hotels and resorts around the world. The only US holding is the Pierre in New York, but Taj is looking to buy on the East and West coasts.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com. 
