Ritz-Carlton Boston to be Taj Boston

For 79 years, people have strolled from the Public Garden across Arlington Street to have breakfast or drinks at the Ritz-Carlton Boston. In January, the awnings will say "Taj Boston" instead.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, a 103-year-old luxury hotel company based in Mumbai, India, has agreed to buy Boston's original Ritz-Carlton from Millennium Partners of New York for $170 million, Taj executives said yesterday.

"It still is Boston's landmark and will continue to be one of the grand hotels in the United States and the world," Raymond Bickson, managing director and chief executive of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd, which operates Taj hotels, said in an interview in Boston yesterday.

He met with Mayor Thomas M. Menino on Wednesday and will meet with hotel employees on Monday.

Millennium Partners developed the newer Ritz-Carlton, on the other side of Boston Common, and the two 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.

Bickson said there are not likely to be major changes at the older Ritz, since it recently closed for a year and underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. "I think it's in great shape," he said, adding that he hopes all of the 450-500 employees stay.

Bickson said his company plans to reopen the "iconic dining room," which was closed early in 2005 to be used for private functions, to the public.

Taj owns or operates 75 hotels and resorts, including some on private islands, as in the Maldives. The only current US holding is the Pierre in New York, but Taj is looking to buy on the West Coast. Worldwide, the company's portfolio includes the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) and 51 Buckingham Gate in London.
(By Thomas C. Palmer, Jr., Globe staff)