As Everett awaits the development of Steve Wynn’s planned $2 billion casino resort on the Mystic River, another company has begun construction of the city’s first hotel in decades.
Public officials and business leaders recently took part in a groundbreaking for the 101-room enVision Hotel Boston Everett at 1834 Revere Beach Parkway, about 2 miles from the site of the future casino.
The hotel is being developed by rehabilitating an existing 94-year-old factory building. Needham-based Global Vision Hotels is developing the project.
The upscale, boutique hotel will be a big contrast to the Prescott House, a former family hotel that continues to operate as a hostel and for long-term stays on Church Street, according to Everett City Clerk Michael Matarazzo. The Prescott House is currently being renovated, Matarazzo said.
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“We will be catering to the business and leisure traveler who is looking for a unique, local experience,” Gautam Sharma, president of Global Vision Hotels, said by e-mail.
Sharma said the future development of the casino did not figure in his firm’s decision. The Wynn resort, which will include more than 600 hotel rooms, is targeted to open in 2018.
Set to open in early 2017, the four-story, 54,000-square-foot enVision Hotel Boston Everett will feature a cafe and lounge, a small conference room, and a fitness center. The project provides for about 70 surface parking spaces.
The building originally was constructed in 1922 as a shoe factory and later was converted into a sewing factory. Most recently it was used as mixed-use retail space, Sharma said.
Global Vision Hotels operates nine hotels, six in Massachusetts. The construction in Everett will mark the expansion of the firm’s enVision Hotel line, which began with the opening of the 39-room enVision Hotel Boston on South Huntington Avenue in 2012.
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Like the Boston hotel, the Everett hotel will be a member of Choice Hotels International’s Ascend Hotel Collection, which are a “network of historic, boutique, and unique hotels that offer guests an authentic, local experience,” according to the company’s website.
The Everett hotel “will highlight the rich history and local character of the community outside its doors much like its sister property on South Huntington Avenue,” Janis Cannon, senior vice president for Choice Hotels, said by e-mail.
“We were looking for sites in the suburban Boston market to develop hotels and this one fit the bill as a historic hotel encompassing the enVision brand,” Sharma said of the Everett location.
Mayor Carlo DeMaria and US Representative Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, took part in the groundbreaking.
In a statement, DeMaria welcomed a project he said would revive an underutilized property. He said the development team has “designed a facility that reflects Everett’s history and acknowledges how unique and special our community is.”
John Laidler can be reached at laidler@globe.com.