Gathered together under the sweltering summer sun in front of TV crews and dozens of guests, were Mayor Tom Menino, a life-long Bostonian, and Pat McCann, CEO of Dublin-based Jurys Doyle Hotel Group. They exchanged pleasantries and then a $14,000,000 check. 

To be exact, it was McCann�s money that went to Menino � a $14,000,000 purchase order for the building that was once Boston�s oldest Police Headquarters, at 154 Berkeley Street in Boston�s Back Bay. 

It will become Jurys Doyle Boston, the first hotel for the international brand in Boston, which is the most �Irish� of American cities. It will be a landmark hotel in a city that is very ready to receive it.

Standing by � beaming, actually � was the family that made it happen, the Saunders family of Boston. 

Long a fixture on the Boston lodging scene, owners of The Lenox Hotel, the Copley Square Hotel and a Comfort Inn and Suites at Boston Airport, the Saunders family had just done what many thought impossible: Consummated a deal for the acquisition and redevelopment of the historic building in a hostile economic environment � one which has produced less success on deal making side than industry has witnessed in years.

How did it get done?

First, perseverance. No one knows the political environment in Boston better than Saunders, but contacts don�t guarantee success. It took weeks of negotiating, creative planning and shuttling back and forth to Ireland to make the deal work.

SHG President Jeff Saunders said, �9-11 put a crimp in our plans, as it has for the whole industry. But we refused to take no for an answer.� He concluded, �When the deal is right and the players are committed, failure is not an option.�

It also took good timing. Sending out an RFP for the project more than two years ago, Mayor Menino earmarked proceeds from the sale of the city building for low-income housing in Boston. That made it a political �winner� that would likely garner little opposition in political circles.

But it also took basic hard work and experience.

�We had the tools and we finished the job,� said Saunders.

Now Jurys Doyle Boston is planning for a Spring, 2004 opening.