Staff photo by Steve Adams

Berklee College of Music has paid $18 million to buy a Fenway property that’s attracted complaints about noise and criminal activity in its previous role as a budget hotel.

California-based Hawkins Way Capital acquired the 56-room property in 2014 and leased it to Emerson College for temporary dorms from 2017 to 2019, when Emerson was renovating its Little Building residence hall on Boylston Street. Hawkins Way then converted it into the Boston Fenway Inn by FOUND, which was marketed as an “affordable urban dormitory.”

A Berklee College of Music spokesperson declined to comment on plans for the 42,868-square-foot building. But a Fenway Community Development Corp. official said the conversion of the property into a hotel in 2019 prompted neighborhood complaints about noise and criminal activity.

“At first there were mature guests, and then the pandemic hit and they cleared out. They were basically flophouse rentals by the night, and there was crazy stuff going on,” said Richard Giordano, director of policy and community planning for the Fenway CDC.

The Boston Licensing Board held a disciplinary hearing in May 2020 after Boston police referred a series of incidents including an assault with a deadly weapon, public consumption of alcohol and a noise disturbance. The board issued a six-month suspension of the property’s lodging house license, which was deferred pending subsequent violations.

The Fenway CDC attempted to acquire the property for affordable housing after Hawkins Way Capital put it up for sale, but was outbid by Berklee, Giordano said.

“I don’t think this is going to go quietly and a lot of people are going to be upset they are going to run it as a dorm,” he said.

Colleges are required to submit institutional master plans laying out their 10-year real estate needs to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. In 2016, Berklee merged with the Boston Conservatory, and the two groups have not updated their IMP’s, according to BPDA filings.

In a 2016 notification letter, Berklee Vice President for Real Estate William Whitley said the two institutions needed time to assess their real estate strategies.

“Rather than quickly prepare and submit [an IMP] with little substance as to future facility planning, we intend to take the time needed to develop a thoughtful, well-considered plan,” Whitney wrote.

This report has been updated to clarify the timing of neighborhood complaints about 12 Hemenway St.