The Boston Licensing Board yesterday deferred action on a proposed liquor license for the Cambria 6 West Broadway hotel now nearing completion so that the building's current owners can explain their plans for a ground-floor lounge and restaurant, second-floor function room and rooftop patio to the West Broadway Neighborhood Association.
At a hearing Wednesday, the hotel's attorney, Carolyn Conway, said the 14-floor, 159-room hotel hopes to open within a month- it's already started accepting reservations - so it really needs approval to buy the liquor license developer Ryan Sillery bought several years ago for a restaurant at the site, on which he is also building condos in addition to the hotel.
Conway acknowledged the hotel, to be operated by Meyer Jabara Hotels of Danbury, CT, hadn't talked to the West Broadway Neighborhood Association about the proposed liquor license transfer, but she said that was because the hotel has not made any changes from the plans approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals six years ago - after winning approval from the neighborhood group.
She said the project underwent significant neighborhood review in 2013 - it was large enough to require a formal BPDA resident advisory group to oversee the plans in addition to public meetings.
Neighborhood-association Co-Chair Derek Pajaczkowski told the board his group might very well approve the license transfer, but told the board it was "slightly ludicrous" for the current owners to bypass city requirements that applicants talk to neighborhood groups first when the original zoning approval happened six years ago, with a different applicant and different members of the neighborhood association.
The mayor's office supported the liquor-license request - but under the assumption that the West Broadway residents group backed the proposal.