Historic Brunswick hotel reopens after $3.5 million in renovations

The newly renovated reception area of The Federal hotel in Brunswick. C. Thacher Carter / The Times Record

A historic Brunswick hotel – previously known as The Daniel – reopened as The Federal on Sunday following a two-year closure and a more than $3.5 million facelift.

Belle Point Holding LLC bought the Water Street hotel in September 2020. It is now managed by Principal Hospitality.

Renovations that started in April 2021 should be complete by the end of next month, according to Principal Hospitality President Gerard Kiladjian.

In February 2020, former owner Abhijit Das of Troca Hotels announced plans to sell it for just under $3 million, following months of financial and operational struggles, The Times Record reported. Shortly after, the hotel went into foreclosure.

The property sold at bank foreclosure auction in September 2020 for $1.6 million to Belle Point. The sale included $80,000 in back taxes to the town, which has since been paid.

Then, in June 2021, Das — who was also a 2017-2018 Massachusetts congressional candidate — was indicted on charges that he used campaign funds for his hotel business.

Kiladjian said that when the hotel was purchased, six rooms in the original portion of the building, which was constructed in 1810, were unfinished and the elevator was not operational. All 30 rooms throughout the building have since been renovated and the elevator restored.

The hotel’s restaurant — which will reopen for dinner five days a week starting in April — also received “significant investment,” Kiladjian said.

In 2020, The Times Record reported that the owners initially planned to turn the building into senior housing. Those plans were scrapped because the building did not comply with the state’s structural code requirements for a retirement home, according to Kiladjian.

“We found that people in Brunswick are just vested into this building — it has a lot of history,” Kiladjian said. “A majority of people didn’t want to see it change purpose, they wanted it to stay as a hotel and they wanted the restaurant back.”

The outside of The Federal hotel in Brunswick. C. Thacher Carter / The Times Record

The hotel also includes a 50-person and a 35-person meeting room. Opening rates start at $149 per night and will range from $189 to around $450 in the summer depending on demand. The name change is primarily attributed to the building’s construction during the Federalist era around 1810, as well as its proximity to Federal Street.

Town Councilor Dan Ankeles said Tuesday that he — along with Rep. Poppy Arford and Councilor Sande Updegraph — visited the new hotel on March 1.

Ankeles said that he is grateful for the new lodging and dining option in town and believes The Federal’s opening is emblematic of a larger trend in Brunswick where businesses are fast to fill any empty spaces.

“It shows that our economy is healthy, that people are bullish about our town, and I certainly view this as an optimistic sign for all of us,” Ankeles said.

Other examples, Ankeles said, include the opening of Hatch Home on Maine Street, The Butchers & Bakers in the Tontine Mall and a new French bakery set to open at the former Big E’s Burrito location downtown.