Hotel@MIT to Become a Le Meridien

Welcome, or should we say “bienvenue,” to Cambridge, Le Meridien. The incoming owner of the Hotel@MIT (aka the University Park Hotel) has announced that the current Doubletree establishment, located in the University Park high-tech and biomedical area between Central Square and MIT, will become part of the luxury Le Meridien hotel group, the Boston Globe reports. Once the approximately $60 million sale is finalized later this week, the new owners, HEI Hotels & Resorts of Norwalk, CT, plan a $7.3 million renovation that will be completed in 2009, according to the paper. C’est vrai.

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.