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Downtown D.C. Project To Include Posh Hotel
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The District has 29,000 hotel rooms, but officials want more, said Victoria Isley, a spokeswoman for Destination DC, which markets the District and the convention center. "There's a need for more hotel rooms, and definitely more near the convention center, which is what's on the horizon," she said.
Hines-Archstone plans to include on the site what officials described as "large-format retail," a department store such as Bloomingdale's or Nordstrom. William Alsup III, a Hines-Archstone vice president, said the developer hopes to announce the project's retail component within six months.
The announcement about the hotel comes as a tightening credit market has slowed construction projects across the region.
However, many District projects being built now started before the slowdown.
Developers conceiving projects, such as the old convention center site or Poplar Point, are in the design phase and are not yet seeking financing.
Less than two blocks from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the site of the proposed new hotel is among the last vacant parcels in the city's central core and provides District officials the chance to further transform downtown.
When it is built, District officials say, the development on the old convention center site will help complete their vision of a downtown that thrives beyond 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. office hours with a blend of shoppers, office workers, residents and tourists visiting shops, restaurants, clubs and museums.
"It's not a daytime city anymore. It's got a nighttime economy," said Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, a nonprofit organization that promotes revitalization.
