LaSalle buys former jail, now luxury hotel

6-Jan-13 – The real estate investment trust that owns the commercial property at Marina City, including Hotel Sax, has purchased majority interest in a Boston hotel.

LaSalle Hotel Properties announced on Friday it has paid $170 million to developer Richard Friedman for majority interest in The Liberty Hotel, a 298-room luxury hotel in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Money for the deal came from sales of stock in December.

Built in 1851, The Liberty started as the Charles Street Jail and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Inmates included activist Malcom X and former Boston mayor James Michael Curley. It closed as a jail in 1990 and opened as a hotel in 2007.