This article first appeared in the Boston Business Journal website.
Perhaps Bill Gates stayed there when he stopped by Harvard University for a speech since stepping out and becoming one of the most famous business people in the world. Either way, a Harvard Square hotel is one of a multitude of hotels that could now be affected by the Bill and Melinda Gates divorce.
The Gateses, through a secret investment firm, own the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, just blocks from Harvard Yard, where Gates reportedly lived in the Wigglesworth Hall dormitory in Harvard before he left in 1975. The 10-story hotel was built a little later in 1984 according to city records.
Her ownership of the site by Cascade Investments was reported by the New York Times in a news article It examined how far-reaching the impact of their high-profile divorce could be, including the $ 50 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s leading health philanthropies. Cascade oversees most of the Foundation’s assets as well as those of the Gateses, the Times reported.
Like the rest of Cascade, ownership of the Charles Hotel is discreet.
Cambridge City records show the site is owned by Carpenter & Co., a real estate developer registered at the same address on Bennett Street. The site was last valued at $ 290 million, but its 1999 retail price is listed as $ 0.
The Charles Hotel isn’t the only hotel in the Boston area that could be affected by the divorce. According to the Times, Bill Gates also owns nearly half of the Four Seasons hotel chain, which has two locations in Boston: the long-standing location on Boylston Street across from the Boston Public Garden and the new location, which opened in 2000 in 2019 A Dalton- Tower next to the Prudential Center.
