- 10 North Main Street, Fall River, MA 02720
Retail
The only thing more impressive than the developments built by First Bristol Corporation, are its long term client relationships which include some of the largest, most successful names in commercial and retail development.
Hospitality
We have taken our winning formula that has been successful for the past three decades and now transferred it to the hospitality sector. With award winning projects, we were able to bring our concept of quality and service into the hotel market.
Office
First Bristol has a very successful track record with the development, renovation and management of premier office space in New England. First Bristol provides property and facility management services that maximize the use and capacity of our developments.
Residential
First Bristol Corporation has successfully developed many residential communities. Whether the property is new construction or a historical renovation, we have the experience and track record to provide a successful venture.
our projects
ABOUT FIRST BRISTOL CORPORATION
First Bristol Corporation is a privately-held real estate development company engaged in the acquisition, development, construction, rehabilitation, and management of Retail, Hotel, Office, and Residential properties throughout the United States. Our proven experience, inherent knowledge, and lasting relationships create added value in every asset class.
IN THE NEWS
The Rhode Island business community is bullish on the state’s economy, if an audience survey at an annual business luncheon is an accurate measure.
Nearly two-thirds of those attending the Economic Outlook Breakfast hosted by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and Santander Bank said they felt the state’s economy will be in “somewhat better shape” or “much better shape” a year from now. Audience members voted on a series of multiple-choice questions with electronic remote controls.
The Rhode Island business community remains largely optimistic about the state’s economic future, although a real-time survey taken Wednesday morning shows the bullish attitude could be slowing.
Nearly 300 members of the local business community were invited to participate in the survey during an annual economic-outlook breakfast hosted by Santander Bank and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce.
Ocean State Job Lot began construction this week on its new store in the former Shaw’s Market, 465 William S. Canning Boulevard.
The company will officially buy the property before the end of the month, according to a James Karam for First Bristol Corp.
Major hotel and restaurant growth in Worcester is supporting the push to accommodate more group meetings and conventions as well as increasing demand by visitors and employees.
“Everybody is talking about Worcester,” said Karam. “This city knows what it wants.”
Rhode Island’s top elected officials and former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino, along with First Bristol Corporation, celebrated the groundbreaking of the $30 million Homewood Suites by Hilton on Thursday at 5 Exchange Street in Providence.
The lot’s been a vacant plot of grass for years. Soon, the triangle of land between One Union Station, a down city post office, and Memorial Boulevard and the Providence River will be home to a new hotel, and an economic boost.
The largest commercial vacancy in the South End will come back to life soon.
First Bristol Corp. is about to take back control of the plaza that held Shaw’s supermarket and Cardoza’s Liquors.
A one-acre lot at 1512 S. Main St. and its new Rite Aid store sold for
$8.6 million this month.
Brockton Pharmacy Property Development LLC purchased the land and building from KM South Main LLC in deeds recorded on June 15 at the Fall River Registry of Deeds.
The new Homewood Suites hotel in downtown Worcester doesn’t come equipped with a restaurant for a reason: They want their guests to eat out somewhere else.
It’s just one of the ways the newest influencers of Worcester’s downtown renaissance plan on reconnecting several of the city’s burgeoning neighborhoods when the hotel opens in June.
There is still a bit to do, but the new six-story, 118-suite Homewood Suites Hotel by Hilton is well on its way to opening its doors to guests by early June.
The $21 million hotel, built on a site next to I-290 at the edge of the Washington Square roundabout, is within walking distance of Union Station, St. Vincent Hospital and many restaurants around the corner on Shrewsbury Street.
The new Homewood Suites by Hilton, right across the rotary from Worcester Station, is set to open to the public in July.
Thursday afternoon, upper management gave a tour of the near-complete facility, showing off amenities like a gym, a saltwater pool, unique views of the city skyline to the city officials and media folk in attendance. Hotel ownership and city officials both talked about the value they feel the hotel will add to the city, both as an economic driver for small business districts in the area and as a source of municipal revenue (an estimated $350,000 a year).
The developer of Worcester’s Homewood Suites by Hilton has been recognized by the hotel company as the developer of the year for long-term stay Hilton locations.
First Bristol Corporation was selected by by Hilton Hotels Worldwide for its ongoing developments in Worcester, Providence, and Middletown/Newport in Rhode Island. The Worcester location is currently under construction across from Union Station. First Bristol also recently built and operates a $60 million, 178-room Hilton Garden Inn near Logan Airport.
For this former mill town, the deal to secure a large Amazon distribution center means much more than the $3.78 million coming from the land sale and the successful culmination of three years’ worth of negotiations.
“Any time you have a corporate giant making a commitment to a city, that speaks volumes,” said Kenneth Fiola Jr., executive vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, which worked closely with state officials and the broker NAI Hunneman to bring in the online retailer. “It gave us enhanced credibility.”
Dena DiMarzo grew up in East Boston, playing at a big vacant lot just off McClellan Highway, about a mile or so from Logan International Airport.
Where DiMarzo and her neighbors saw a shabby lot that had been empty forever, James J. Karam, founder and president of First Bristol Corp., a real estate development company in Fall River, saw 6.2 acres of opportunity three years ago.
Woburn, Massachusetts-based Tocci Building Companies recently announced the official groundbreaking of the Hilton Homewood Suites Hotel at 1 Washington Square in Worcester, Massachusetts. The project is slated for completion by February 2017.
Developer First Bristol Corporation, who bought the land from the Worcester Redevelopment Authority, chose Tocci as construction management services provider. The $21 million project will also benefit from the collaboration of BMA Designs, Veitas and Veitas Engineers, ZDS Architectural Design Services, and Wozny Barbar & Associates. According to the Telegram and Gazette, the funding for the project has been secured through East Boston Savings Bank.
A Fall River development company joined local officials Monday afternoon in breaking ground on a $21 million Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel at Washington Square, across the rotary from Union Station.
First Bristol Corp. of Fall River will build a 118-room, six story hotel on the site, which is tucked up against Interstate 290 and will include 115 parking spaces, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, and fitness center. Homewood Suites by Hilton specializes in longer-term hotel stays, and each of its rooms includes a kitchen and living area.
After decades of rejected or abandoned plans, a hotel may finally be built on the grassy triangular lot at Memorial Boulevard and Steeple Street, the site of many art installations over the years.
The Capital Center Commission Wednesday endorsed a plan to build an eight-story, 120 unit suite hotel, costing $18 million to $20 million on the half-acre site, which the city has agreed to transfer in a $1 million lease-purchase deal.
Hilton Garden Inn, developer First Bristol Corp and construction company Consigli joined together to cut the ribbon on the first new hotel built in East Boston in 14 years.
The hotel was erected on a long neglected parcel of land along Boardman Street and McClellan Highway after Fall River based developer First Bristol received Boston Redevelopment Authority for the $32 million project to build a Hilton Garden Inn in Eastie.
Two development projects in the city are set to move forward, having received full approval from city governing boards. The projects, a CVS pharmacy on Broad Street and a Family Dollar store on East Main, were the subjects of two special meetings this week of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourse Commission and the Planning Commission.
The planned 14,000 square-foot CVS will span three parcels — 167, 153, and 143 Broad St. — on the corner of Broad and Ann streets, and will include a 68-space parking lot.
The beds don’t yet have mattresses, the carpets still sport protective covering and the swimming pool isn’t yet filled in. But the new 178-room Hilton Garden Inn in East Boston is rapidly approaching completion.
Click through the slideshow on the right to take a sneak-peek tour of the $32 million hotel, which is located at 100 Boardman St. about two miles from Logan International Airport near East Boston’s historic Orient Heights neighborhood.
Changes are happening at a downtown commercial landmark. First Bristol Corp. announced Tuesday that it has purchased the Travelers Insurance building at 99 S. Main St.
The regional real estate development company located on North Main Street signed a long-term lease with Travelers to retain half of its space, and plans to renovate, subdivide and lease the remainder of the 100,000-square-foot, four-story office building, said James Karam, First Bristol president.
James J. Karam, two-time chairman of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, announced Wednesday that he is stepping down Dec. 31, ending nearly 10 years of service on the UMass Board of Trustees, according to a press release from the UMass president’s office.
Karam, whose term is set to expire in February, served two stints as board chairman, with his most recent term as chair ending last summer when Gov. Deval Patrick appointed vice chairman Henry M. Thomas, III to succeed him.
SouthCoast residents may have a new shopping destination by 2013, as developers announced Wednesday that workers will start construction on a 160,000-square-foot Walmart SuperCenter in August.
The store will stand on the vacant site of a Quaker Fabrics manufacturing facility off Brayton Avenue near the junction of Route 24 and Interstate 195. It is the lead tenant of a privately funded, $55 million shopping complex to be called “Crossroads at 24.”
our clients

our Team
- JAMES J. KARAM
- President & CEO
- JAMES M. KARAM
- Vice President
- JEFFREY T. KARAM
- Vice President
- ALYSSA A. KARAM
- Asset Manager
- EDMOND LANDRY
- Vice President, Construction
- JEFF DAY
- Vice President, Hotel Operations
- BRIAN SHERMAN
- Vice President, Controller
- BEN GILBERT
- Project Executive
our gallery

- Ribbon Cutting

- Ground Breaking

- Hotel Plan Presentation

- Site Plan Presentation