Architect and developer, Bruce Becker, discusses how he is making the new Hotel Marcel the country's first net-zero hotel, meaning the hotel generates on-site all the energy it needs using solar panels on the roof and solar canopies in the parking lot. There will also be numerous EV charging stations installed in the parking areas.

The distinctive building was designed in the 1960's by its namesake, Marcel Breuer, in the Brutalist Modernist style, and was the headquarters for the Armstrong Rubber Company, which was subsequently acquired by the Pirelli Tire Company. It has been an empty, hulking concrete block of a building for roughly 30 years, stared at by patrons of the nearby Ikea furniture store and the Long Wharf Theater.

The distinctive gap above the second story was reported to serve as a noise buffer between the factory on the lower floors and the offices above. The hotel is expected to open around the end of 2021.