citizenM Boston Back Bay

citizenM opened its second Boston property on September 4, 2024, a 399-room tower at 408 Newbury Street — the brand's largest hotel to date anywhere in the world. The building anchors Lyrik, a $700 million air-rights development (formerly known as Parcel 12) built over eight lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike, the MBTA Green Line and active rail tracks. It is also Boston's first all-electric hotel, and the city's first air-rights construction since Copley Place in 1983.

The place

The hotel sits at 408 Newbury Street, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue, where Back Bay meets the Fenway. The address places it a short walk from Newbury Street's shopping strip, the Hynes Convention Center and Fenway Park, with the Hynes Convention Center Green Line stop close by. What makes the site unusual is what is underneath it: the 15-story tower, along with the office building 1001 Boylston Street and a two-tiered public plaza, is built on a platform decked over the Turnpike, a commuter rail corridor and transit tracks — reclaiming a stretch of infrastructure that had divided Back Bay from the Fenway for decades.

The concept

citizenM Boston Back Bay applies the brand's standard formula — compact, tech-equipped guest rooms paired with an oversized communal lobby — at a scale the company had not previously attempted: 399 rooms across 15 floors make it citizenM's largest hotel worldwide. Concrete Amsterdam, the brand's longtime design partner, led the interiors with local firm Elkus Manfredi handling the architecture; rooms follow the familiar template of XL king beds, rain showers in a glass-walled capsule, and an iPad or app controlling lighting, blinds and streaming, all within a compact roughly 160-square-foot footprint. Local identity is built into the building's skin: a facade installation by Boston artist Maria Molteni draws on quilting and weaving patterns with ocean-inspired motifs, and locally sourced art continues into the lobby and public spaces. The Living Room, citizenM's signature lobby-as-workspace, is joined here by collectionM, a retail concept, and societyM meeting space for groups. Chief brand officer Robin Chadha framed the opening around Boston's "creative expression," positioning the hotel toward bleisure travelers, entrepreneurs and visitors drawn to Fenway Park and Newbury Street rather than to a conventional business-district stay.

Dining & wellness

Food and drink run through canteenM, citizenM's round-the-clock lobby bar and kitchen, serving coffee, snacks and light meals at any hour rather than through a standalone restaurant. The hotel also has a 24/7 gym with views over Newbury Street. A rooftop bar and terrace, operated by an outside partner and offering Boston skyline views, was announced alongside the hotel's opening but was slated to open in early 2025, after the rest of the property.