June 01--Developers have formally filed plans with the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a 156-room boutique hotel in South Boston's up-and-coming Lower End that neighbors hope will draw other retail stores and restaurants to West Broadway.

Pappas Industrial Parks Inc. plans a restaurant and bar, coffee shop, fitness center, and meeting, conference and screening rooms for the ground floor of the hotel. It would also feature a rooftop bar and swimming pool, which would be open to the public.

Developers don't yet have an official commitment from a potential hotel. The project is slated for an empty lot at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and West Broadway, across from the Broadway T stop.

"We're looking to draw a really innovative restaurant operator," said Joseph Hanley, the attorney for the project. "There's been tremendous growth there, but most of it has been in residential housing, so this is a nice complement and a diverse use that's not available. You have the opportunity to cater to folks interested in staying at a boutique-like, forward-design hotel right near a train station in a part of the city that's fantastic."

Bill Gleason of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association said neighbors initially had concerns about parking, but they also like the idea of a hotel nearby for guests that visit and see it as a way to connect South Boston with the South Boston waterfront. He also sees potential for the project to bring in more shops and restaurants nearby.

"It was very well received, almost universal support," said Gleason of the meeting that Pappas held with neighbors. "I personally feel that something like that will bring the type of quality retail we're looking for down here. We've had a lot of challenges filling out retail spots down here in the last few years of the recession."

The Lower End of West Broadway is a now a hotbed of construction, but largely for rental apartments.

A 50-unit apartment building above the Broadway T station, which will include Southie's first Starbucks and a Subway sandwich shop, is in the final stages. Across the street, a six-story, 30-plus-unit apartment building is slated for the area between the Cornerstone Pub and Teriyaki House.

The plans were submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority for review.

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